INPS Vision 4 to be London's core GP solution

INPS’s Vision 4 is to be the core primary care solution offered to practices in London.

The decision to opt for INPS (formerly In Practice Systems) as the preferred supplier in the capital is outlined in two letters to primary care trust chief executives from BT and London NHS chief executive David Nicholson yesterday.

Patrick O’Connell, managing director of BT Health, said Vision 4 from INPS would be the local service provider’s primary care offering, while in mental health and community care the LSP would continue to deploy RiO from CSE Servelec and switch from GE Healthcare (previously IDX Systems) to Cerner for the acute sector.

He described the moves covering primary and community care as “very much business as usual for us all” but said that BT would be discussing the way forward for acute trusts who have already been in the planning process for new systems deployment.

O’Connell adds: “We feel that this solution gives extra clarity and flexibility to trusts about our offerings and we are confident that it this will address the major concerns within the NHS London community.”

Until now INPS has been the ‘alternative’ offering in London while the ‘strategic’ solution, IDX’s Carecast, was under development. It has been understood from some time, however, that development of a new primary care solution for London was on hold while BT watched developments on GP system choice negotiations.

The GP Systems of Choice (GPSoC) initiative means that GPs in the capital should have a choice of any of the suppliers involved in the GPSoC deal although data migration costs would be met for GPs in London wanting to move to INPS, the LSP solution, but practices wishing to move to another GPSoC supplier would have to fund the cost themselves or persuade their PCT to do so.

As an ‘alternative’ solution supplier in London, INPS had already installed 42 systems in the capital as part of its LSP contract by the end of March this year and had a contract to install 87 more by the end of this year.

INPS has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Fujitsu Alliance, the LSP for the Southern cluster which moved from IDX to Cerner as its acute system supplier last year.

A statement from INPS provided to EHI Primary Care says that the company is “naturally delighted” that Vision 4 has been selected as the proposed primary care system for the London cluster.

The statement adds: “London has traditionally been a strong area for INPS where Vision 3 has been successfully deployed to many practices as the alternative GP system. A significant and continually growing proportion of Vision practices are already enjoying the security, reliability and cost-of-ownership benefits of managed service solutions, where Vision is hosted via a central server. The thin client model of Vision 4 will be a natural future progression for these, and other practices.”

The INPS statement adds that the company’s approach is to make Vision a key component of LSP strategies. It adds: “We see the position in London as confirmation that our strategy is sound, and we are looking forward to further success throughout the UK.”

A letter from David Nicholson, currently CEO of the London SHA and soon-to-be chief executive of the NHS, David Nicholson, to all trusts in the capital outlines the changes ahead in London.

Nicholson states: “I am writing to let you know that we have now received a formal request from our local service provider, BT, to change their sub-contractor for delivery of the integrated care record for London.”

He says that the vision of an integrated patient record, covering primary, community and acute care, remains “but BT is recommending some significant strategic changes to the component elements on which that vision is to be built.”

Nicholson continues: “In the acute setting, they [BT] are proposing a change of supplier, replacing GE Healthcare (formerly known as IDX) with Cerner. Mental health and community health services will continue to deploy the RiO product from CSE Servelec.” For primary care Vision 4 from INPS is being proposed.

The NHS England CEO designate added that the proposals from BT will be carefully “scrutinised” over the coming months. He advises trusts that they will be contacted by NHS CfH London “in the next few days to discuss particular issues relating to your trust, and to ensure we achieve maximum involvement in the evaluation process.”