SchlumbergerSema wins £64.5m NHS contract

SchlumbergerSema has, as revealed last month by silicon.com, been chosen to run the five-year £54.5m contract for the NHS' national electronic booking system.

The firm will work with clinical management systems company Cerner to design, develop and manage the service. The first electronic bookings are expected by next summer and the service is targeted for national coverage by the end of 2005.

The electronic booking system will be available to more than 30,000 GPs, connecting them to 270 hospitals. The system will allow patients to choose from a menu of options – which hospital, what date and time – when they are referred to hospital consultants for appointments.

Speaking at the unveiling of the booking contract, Health Secretary John Reid said the system will give patients more choice and control over their appointments.

"Electronic booking will take away the uncertainty and anxiety of waiting, sometimes weeks, to be sent an appointment in the post which may not be suitable for the patient. Patients will be able to choose their appointments convenient to them so that it fits in around family or work commitments," he said.

Reid said the new booking system will increase the number of appointments available by helping to cut the 1.5 million 'no-show' or late bookings each year.

Richard Granger, director general of NHS IT, said he is confident the system will deliver best value because of the rigorous procurement process.

"I am particularly pleased that the arrangements under which the service will be delivered provide significant protection to the NHS with regard to delivery and performance," he said.

The electronic booking contract is one of four major national projects that make up the £2.3bn National Programme for IT (NPfIT) in the NHS, along with single electronic patient records, electronic prescriptions and a national broadband network.

Reid said at the briefing that an allowance for a 7.4 per cent increase in funding over the next four years will give the IT programme the flexibility to adapt to any changes.

In a separate announcement UK PC manufacturer Centerprise has been selected as one of three preferred suppliers to deliver 55,000 desktop machines for the NHS in the next six months. The PCs will be preloaded with Microsoft Windows XP under the national NHS Microsoft licensing framework agreement.