Scottish NHS IT deal up for grabs

The National Health Service (NHS) in Scotland is putting its IT up for grabs when an £11.5m a year contract with outsourcer Atos Origin ends next year.

The NHS in Scotland originally handed its IT over to Sema back in 1999 and the contract was extended in 2001 after Sema was taken over by Schlumberger. Atos Origin then inherited the contract when it bought SchlumbergerSema in 2004. The deal was originally worth £11.5m; its current value is not known.

As part of the deal Atos Origin has been the lead IT partner on the Scottish Care Information programme, which includes a move towards an integrated local and national care records system in Scotland.

But the Scottish NHS IT programme is separate from the £6.2bn Connecting for Health NHS IT modernisation project headed up by Richard Granger in England. The Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh health services were approached and turned down the chance to be part of Connecting for Health.

In addition to core IT services the winning bidder of the Scottish NHS contract will be responsible for new initiatives including electronic patient records, a national finance system and a national GP desktop service.

Transition to a new service provider is due to commence in October 2006 with a full handover by April 2007.

Atos Origin said in a statement that it will be re-bidding for the contract but would not disclose its current value.