Amor Group buys Maracis EPR system

Amor Group has purchased Maracis Solutions’ electronic patient record system and relaunched it as ‘Unity Mental Health’.

The system is specifically designed for mental health trusts and is in use at organisations including Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust and the Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust.

The system was developed over 15 years by Maracis, but Amor Group says that now it has purchased the intellectual property rights it will fast-track its further development. Maracis is believed to be focusing on its remaining products.

Speaking to eHealth Insider, Cathy Harris, chief clinical information officer for Amor Group’s health business unit, said it procured the system because of its clinical functionality and its presence in the market.

“We feel that it is a really good product which we can take somewhere,” she said. “[Maracis] a small company and with all the change that is happening we can bring a lot more to the table.

“We can develop the product and provide a lot of our other services, such as hosting and consulting services.”

Harris said the company will initially focus on the mental health market, developing the current system to add additional functionality, such as visual ward management and clinical care pathways.

It will also develop its clinical portal product, ‘Unity Central’. Amor Group has set what it describes as a “conservative aim” of attracting three or four new trusts over the next two years.

It will also be looking to secure more places on framework contracts, with a view to securing 15-18 new clients.

Harris said Amor was already involved in £300m collaborative tender being run by thirty mental health and community trusts in London.

The company’s long-term strategy revolves around developing the system to suit the growing trend for community and mental health trusts to merge.

“We want to grow and expand in the trusts we currently have. However, one of the things we have talked about is that more and more mental health trusts are forming consortia and merging with community trusts, so we want to expand the community functionality of the system,” Harris said.

Alastair O’Brien, Amor’s public services sector director, said: “This is a proven and referenceable mental health EPR product that further strengthens our suite of healthcare solutions.

“We believe this is the best, most credible offering in the mental health IT market right now for improving workflow and delivering efficiency savings.”

Amor Group is an international business technology systems company with over 550 staff across its sites in the UK, USA and Middle East.