EMIS Becomes National Supplier For England And Wales

Main Category: IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 10 Sep 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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EMIS - the UK's leading primary care IT system supplier- has signed a contract with Connecting for Health (CfH) to provide clinical systems and services under the GP Systems of Choice (GPSoC) initiative in England. A separate contract with NHS Wales has also been signed following completion of the Welsh GMS Systems and Services Framework Agreement.

The developments mean that GPs across England and Wales can now choose EMIS's market-leading system as an officially endorsed NHS solution.

EMIS is one of the eight clinical systems suppliers to be awarded contracts under the GPSoC initiative and one of four suppliers chosen under the Welsh agreement to offer IT clinical systems to Welsh local health boards (LHBs).

The GPSoC initiative means English GPs will now be able to choose from either ESPs (existing system providers) or LSPs (local service providers) for replacement GP systems or keep existing clinical systems which will be upgraded in line with National Programme for IT (NPfIT) requirements and be centrally funded.

The Welsh GMS Systems and Services Framework Agreement will provide Wales with a new national specification for systems, ensuring that all Local Health Boards use the same standards across the country.

Sean Riddell, Healthcare Managing Director of EMIS said: "These two contracts represent a major step forward for GP choice in England and Wales, ensuring that doctors are free to choose the clinical IT system that best meets their individual needs."

He added: "We welcome the commitment to GP choice and look forward to working with both organisations to deliver improved services for GPs and patients. This is excellent news for healthcare IT as choice promotes competition, which ultimately drives innovation.!"

- EMIS is the UK's leading supplier of IT systems to GPs, providing the software that holds the medical records for 39 million NHS patients nationwide. Around 56 per cent of GPs in the UK currently use EMIS software.

- The company has a 19-year history of innovation within the UK primary care market. Founded by GPs Dr Peter Sowerby and Dr David Stables, its guiding ethos is that the software used by GP surgeries should be "written by doctors, for doctors".

- EMIS is responsible for a number of innovatory products and services for GPs and patients, including EMIS Access - the only online appointment bookings service currently available within the NHS; a groundbreaking electronic prescription management service and a shared data system that enables secure GP-to-GP exchange of patient records.

- In April 2005, EMIS Access won an award for 'most innovative e-health product' at the E-Health Innovation Awards, jointly organized by Intellect and E-Health Insider.

http://www.emis-online.com/