Southend goes with McKesson

Southend's hospital

System C, a McKesson company, is to implement its patient administration system and electronic patient record at Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

EHealth Insider understands that the trust has chosen the company’s Medway system, and a spokesperson for McKesson confirmed that it will be deploying its patient administration system, A&E and business intelligence across Southend over the coming months.

Nick Fernandez, director of IT, said in a statement that Medway had been selected following a rigorous 12-month OJEU procurement process.

“Medway will be the keystone of our IT future strategy as we roll out modern, user-friendly clerical and clinical systems across the Trust”, he said.

Southend went out tender last September to replace its legacy McKesson Totalcare system, which was first implemented at the trust in 1990.

The trust wanted the provision of a new system, associated training, technical implementation, data migration, interface development, cutover, documentation, project management and application support services.

The tender states that Southend initially wanted a supplier to replace its PAS, with the potential of developing the system into a comprehensive, integrated electronic patient record including order communications, theatres, maternity, clinical noting and electronic prescribing.

The contract will be for an initial period of seven years, with an opportunity to extend for a further seven years “depending on performance and delivering continued value for money”.

Grahame Tosh, medical director at Southend University Hospital, said: “This is a quantum leap forward for this hospital. Our old PAS has served us well but is outdated. We see having a modern PAS as a huge opportunity to improve care for patients.”