McKesson completes purchase of System C

McKesson has completed its acquisition of System C, the UK specialist provider of software and services to the health and social care markets, for £87m.

The deal brings together System C’s next-generation Medway suite of clinical and administrative software and its proven volume deployment capability, built up under the National Programme for IT in the NHS, with McKesson’s client base, financial strength and reputation.

McKesson will no longer bring its US Paragon patient administration software to the UK. Instead, it will encourage its 26 legacy NHS hospital trust customers to migrate to the System C Medway product.

Last week, System C signed a key contract to supply Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust with the Medway PAS/EPR, following a six-month competitive procurement.

Patrick Carter, chairman of the McKesson International Operations Group, said: “This is a key strategic acquisition and a significant investment in UK healthcare IT. It brings immediate benefits to our extensive user base and to the wider health and social care sectors.”

“McKesson has an existing PAS customer base, running trusted systems at the very core of their organisation. It is paramount to us that we are able to offer them a proven, best of breed solution which will meet their future needs.

“Buying System C ensures McKesson can offer customers an award-winning suite of PAS and clinical systems, developed specifically for the NHS using the latest Microsoft technologies, and ready to install today.”

Dr Ian Denley, chief executive of System C, told eHealth Insider that he saw a huge opportunity for System C as a McKesson company and confirmed that McKesson customers would be offered the Medway PAS/EPR.

“The current management will be staying," he said. "For McKesson hospital customers we hope to convince them of the benefits Medway, together with our strong presence in social care with Liquidlogic.

"For System C customers we plan to see what we can offer them from the strong Mckesson product portfolio.”

He added: “We have retained our very capable implementation team and are currently retraining all our implementation staff in Medway.”

System C is to retain its identity as a separate company, and will operate under its existing management team as System C. Together the two firms will employ 1,200 people in the UK and Europe.

McKesson Corporation, headquartered in San Francisco has a £12.8 ($21) billion market valuation and is currently ranked 15 on the Fortune 500.

The company is a healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to making the business of healthcare run better. McKesson UK provides the NHS with the NHS Electronic Staff Record serving more than 1.4m  NHS employees.