GPs’ surgeries will be able to choose from a range of IT systems under an initiative announced by NHS IT director general Richard Granger this week.
The National Programme for NHS IT (NPfIT) has faced controversy over local practice software since the General Medical Services contract was agreed by GPs and the Department of Health in April 2003.
The contract guarantees that surgeries can choose their IT systems, while the NPfIT model is for a standard system delivered by the local service provider (LSP) responsible for implementing the £6bn NPfIT in their region.
Under the GP Systems of Choice initiative, practices can now select either the LSP-provided system or from an approved set of GP system suppliers.
‘Choice is critical, because being forced off a system that you know and that works well onto something that is foreign and may not work so well is hardly beneficial,’ said Paul Cundy, British Medical Association spokesman for GP computing.
But in the light of financial pressures in the NHS, Cundy is concerned about funding, despite statements from NPfIT that costs will be met centrally.
‘Primary Care Trusts are universally bankrupt and their contributing to capital costs would appear to undermine the spirit of this agreement,’ he said.
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