NHS contract row won't affect users

The contract row between the National Programme for NHS IT (NPfIT) and a major existing health service technology company should not matter to users, providing plans for open standards are adhered to.

Technology from supplier Emis is used by more than 50 per cent of UK GPs. But Emis says it will not sign sub-contractor deals with the Local Service Providers (LSPs) charged with regional implementation of the £2.3bn National Programme, because the terms are commercially untenable.

Emis director Dr David Stables has met with Richard Granger, director general of NHS IT, but a solution is yet to be reached.

And GPs are being encouraged by the Emis National User Group (NUG) to lobby their MPs for the right to keep Emis systems, regardless of whether they are available through their LSP.

Emis NUG chairman Dr Manpreet Pujara is concerned that GPs will be pressurised into changing their systems.

'If the major supplier is excluded then people will feel pushed,' he said.

But Paul Cundy, joint chair of the GP IT committee at the British Medical Association, says Emis' position regarding the NPfIT should not matter in practice.

'From the GPs' point of view, providing Emis offer the necessary functionality whether they are in the programme or out of it is irrelevant,' said Cundy.

'All the National Programme application interfaces will be build with open standards so, providing they write the necessary interfaces, then GPs using Emis purchased directly from the supplier won't be penalised.

'There is no threat to either GPs or the success of the prgoramme,' he said.

A spokesman for NPfIT said: 'We are committed to providing GPs with a choice of appropriate IT solutions that meet our specifications. We are continuing with our discussions with all the parties involved to reach a satisfactory conclusion.'