EC approves CSC's iSoft acquisition

Competition regulator rubber-stamps buy-out of e-health firm behind controversial Lorenzo system

The European Commission’s (EC) competition mandarins have cleared CSC’s proposed acquisition of beleaguered healthcare software maker iSoft.

The deal was under scrutiny because of the potential impact it could have in the UK, as both CSC and iSoft have been heavily involved in the NHS’s troubled National Programme for IT (NPfIT).

However, the EC concluded that BT’s involvement in the NPfIT provided sufficient competition.

iSoft had originally been contracted by CSC to deliver the much-delayed Lorenzo hospital administration software.

Government spending watchdog the National Audit Office recently published a damning report on the NPfIT. It claimed the programme had offered poor value for money and showed little sign of ever being able to offer a national system for electronic patient records.