NHS Supply Chain extends iSoft deal

NHS Supply Chain has extended its contract with iSoft to host its e-commerce and logistics applications until 2010.

The contract extends the ten-year partnership with NHS Supply Chain, which began with its predecessor organisation NHS Logistics. ISoft has been taken over by IBA Health since the original contract was awarded.

Operated by DHL Logistics, NHS Supply Chain manages over four million NHS orders a year and has the objective of providing savings of over £1 billion to the NHS over ten years.

ISoft will continue to provide NHS Supply Chain with a fully hosted managed service and a dual data centre operation. The warehouse management and distribution applications are developed and supported by IBA subsidiary iB Solutions under a separate contract.

Applications are run in tandem at two separate data centres to guarantee a disaster-tolerant solution.

Paul Richards, managing director of iSoft UK and Ireland, said: “We have an enviable record of providing a consistently reliable service over many years.”

Overseen by the NHS Business Services Authority, NHS Supply Chain delivers equipment and supplies to 600 NHS hospitals, GP surgeries and other healthcare organisations from six regional distribution centres.

Customers can order goods and services online from a catalogue of 500,000 different products ranging from medical and surgical supplies and equipment to food, furniture, and office supplies. Its e-commerce services include e-trading, e-ordering, e-cataloguing, e-billing, and online forecasting.

Based in Alfreton in Derbyshire, NHS Supply Chain employs around 1,700 staff at eight locations. Each year, it supplies to over 250,000 NHS requisition points, delivers to over 10,000 locations, services 100,000 patients in their homes, and manages four million NHS orders.

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