Trusts can keep McKesson PAS systems to 2010

US healthcare IT giant McKesson has signed a deal with NHS Connecting for Health (CfH), the agency responsible for delivering the NHS IT programme, to continue to support customers using its legacy TotalCARE and STAR Patient Administration Systems (PAS) until 2010.

The deal with CfH's existing systems supplier programme is the latest indication that the NHS IT upgrade will not be completed by its original 2010 end point.  This was the key target by when all patients were meant to have a shared integrated electronic record.

With delays mounting in the delivery of 'strategic' clinical systems by local service providers the programme has become increasingly reliant on 'existing systems' providers, such as McKesson, who were not included in CfH's original plans or contracts.

Under the terms of the new contract with CfH, the McKesson PAS systems will continue to be available to the 31 trusts currently using them. The McKesson PAS systems have already been made Choose and Book compliant.

Trusts will have the option to stay with these existing PAS solutions until they eventually migrate to a new 'strategic' LSP system.

According to CfH the agreement with McKesson also includes an agreed number of development days to enable trusts to develop their McKesson PAS systems in line with Data Set Change Notices (DSCN) as they arise over the period of the agreement.

Eric Ringwall, managing director for McKesson UK, said “We greatly welcome this agreement between McKesson and NHS Connecting for Health; it provides our customers with the confidence of knowing that they have a guaranteed and stable PAS solution that they can work with over the coming years.”

Ringwall added, “As a provider of IT services exclusively to the healthcare industry, McKesson has a level of international experience and knowledge that is enabling us to help the trusts and NHS CfH meet their objectives to improve the provision of healthcare services in the UK; we are very proud to be an integral part of this initiative.”

McKesson Corporation is the world’s largest healthcare services and technology company. Founded in 1833 and has a turnover in excess of $80bn (£42.5bn) making it the 16th largest company in the United States.

In the UK, McKesson PAS systems are currently used by 31 operating across over 50 NHS facilities. Outside the aegis of the NPfIT programme McKesson is the prime contractor for the NHS Wide Clearing Service and for the NHS Electronic Staff Record, implementing an integrated pay and HR system for 1.2 million NHS staff.