One of many largest shared EPR procurements, masking 4 NHS trusts in Blackpool, Lancashire and South Cumbria, has been deserted on the eleventh hour with out choosing a provider or awarding a contract.
Digital Well being Information can solely reveal that the procurement has been ended mid-evaluation after the trusts concerned did not agree on the conclusion of the EPR procurement and the unofficial most popular provider failing to submit a compliant bid.
A spokesperson mentioned that it turned obvious that the necessities they’d issued for the procurement didn’t cowl the scope of performance truly wanted.
The four-trust EPR procurement was led by Blackpool Instructing Hospitals NHS Basis Belief on behalf of itself, East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Belief, Lancashire Instructing Hospitals NHS Basis Belief and College Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Basis Belief
Gary Doherty, director of technique and planning for Lancashire Instructing Hospitals NHS Basis Belief and senior accountable officer for the acute EPR programme for Lancashire and South Cumbria, mentioned: “The partnership has been working collectively to obtain a single shared EPR system however following additional consideration and discussions with belief digital groups and recommendation from our native procurement workforce, authorized advisors and EPR procurement specialists, the present procurement has been closed and not using a provider being appointed.
Sources near the procurement recommend that the acute EPR programme for Lancashire and South Cumbria could have been closed, partially, as a result of the scoring of bids was pointing to a provider choice that will have been extraordinarily troublesome for a few of the trusts concerned.
Unconfirmed sources recommend that, unofficially, the popular ICS provider was Oracle, however they submitted a non-compliant bid, with Nervecentre thought to have scored as much as the purpose the procurement was ended.
East Lancs went stay with Oracle simply eight months in the past, making it extraordinarily unlikely they might need to swap out EPRs.
No less than six bidders thought to have taken half
In addition to Oracle and Nervecentre, Digital Well being Information understands IMS Maxims, Alcidion, Daedalus and Altera bid as effectively and are prone to be smarting from the prices of collaborating within the deserted procurement.
A spokesperson for the belief confirmed to Digital Well being Information that the EPR procurement had been ended, and not using a most popular bidder being chosen: “The procurement for a single shared acute digital affected person document (EPR) system has been closed and not using a provider being appointed. The method was closed previous to the conclusion of the analysis stage.”
Requested why the procurement had been suspended the spokesperson mentioned: “The choice to not proceed with the present procurement has been made whereas we supply out an in depth strategic evaluation of our necessities for a single ICS acute EPR.”
They continued: “Throughout the analysis of tenders, it turned obvious that the necessities described within the Invitation To Tender, and related draft EPR contract, didn’t absolutely element the scope of EPR performance that we want to put in place and consequently, the analysis standards within the ITT wouldn’t allow the organisations to appropriately determine probably the most economically advantageous answer able to assembly these wants.”
A January Blackpool belief board paper refers to provider demonstrations resulting from happen in January.
East Lancashire solely went stay with Oracle in June 2023, whereas Morecombe Bay is an outdated legacy Lorenzo EPR web site. Lancashire Instructing Hospital in the meantime makes use of an EPR from Harris Well being, Blackpool is among the few NHS hospital trusts nonetheless missing a contemporary EPR.
Steve Christian, deputy chief govt at Blackpool and lead for the digital transformation programme on the Belief, mentioned on the time: “Decreasing the variety of totally different techniques we use is a key a part of the Belief’s new digital plan.”
As a primary step the belief Blackpool plans to go stay with a brand new Affected person Administration System, with go-live now scheduled for April 2024.
The spokesperson acknowledged that ending the joint procurement “will have an effect in delivering the longer-term imaginative and prescient to consolidate into one single system throughout Lancashire and South Cumbria sooner or later”, however mentioned is not going to affect day-to-day operating of hospital providers.
“Trusts have taken and can take steps to mitigate the affect of delaying placing a brand new single system in place.”
Doherty concluded: “The purpose is to now evaluate the present specification and necessities after which launch a brand new procurement course of.”
Whereas the Blackpool and Lancashire South Cumbria EPR procurement is particularly formidable, NHS Trusts have more and more seemed to joint EPR procurement prior to now yr. In December, College Hospitals of Derby and Burton and Chesterfield Royal Hospital chosen Nervecentre as the popular provider for a brand new joint EPR system, whereas Guys’ and St. Thomas’ and King’s Faculty Hospital NHS Trusts lastly went stay with the delayed launch of a joint Epic EPR system in October.
