£27m NHS IT framework contracts disclosed

Eighty-four vendors and contractors have been given the green light start work on small NHS IT and telecoms projects which are worth a total of £27m.

The purchasing arm of the NHS has issued contracts for vendors such as Cable & Wireless, Colt, Telewest and a number of smaller firms to carry out work in the health service throughout the UK.

According to the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (Pasa), the contracts have been awarded in addition to projects commissioned by major NHS negotiator OGCbuying.solutions.

A spokeswoman for the NHS Pasa said: "[We] negotiate the agreement on behalf of the NHS so that individual trusts do not have to do individual EU compliant exercises. This saves the NHS money and the suppliers the expense of multiple responses.

"We also agree national terms and conditions. Any of the bodies covered by the agreement can use any of the suppliers. The value of business is not guaranteed and can be more or less than the estimate."

The three-year contracts, which began on 1 August, will include work such as local IT maintenance, call-centres, security, interpatient communication and voice and video support.