Healthcare IT Suppliers Respond to Consultation to Stimulate a Healthy and Vibrant IT Market

Healthcare IT suppliers have submitted their responses to the joint plan published by the Department of Health's Informatics Directorate and Intellect that aims to foster a healthy and vibrant healthcare IT market.

The consultation, which opened in November, received more than 40 responses from the supplier industry. It called upon the NHS and IT supplier community to provide feedback on what could be done to "foster the right conditions to enable a healthy and vibrant healthcare IT market within England" in light of the changes to the National Programme for IT.

The joint plan aims to demonstrate how this can be achieved through a partnership between the NHS informatics "customer" community and the IT "supplier" community.

The majority of IT suppliers agreed with the concepts at the heart of the plan, which include a renewed focus on standards, data sharing and procurement. However, some supplemented this with additional suggestions, which can be found below.

Response from Carefx, a subsidiary of Harris Corporation
The joint plan is an excellent initiative that has the potential to deliver real benefits to the Health and Social care community and to patients. The approaches, principles and governance arrangements outlined are sound.

However, there are several points where greater detail should be defined in the final plan as the objectives outlined lack specificity. To evaluate the success of the joint plan it would be necessary to define clearer objectives that can ultimately be measured. As an example, the conditions in which a vibrant IT market would exist should be defined as part of this section.

There is a distinct lack of focus on evaluation in the plan. This is linked to the low specificity in the plan's objectives. We do not have a good evidence base and approach to evaluation of information and technology programmes and this plan is an opportunity to address this. A specific initiative or workstream to develop an evaluation framework involving suppliers, academic institutions and providers should be established as part of this plan. This will assist in providing robust material to enable the ‘informed client’ initiative. The framework should then be utilised in pilot evaluation programmes to assess the impact of key IT initiatives within the NHS (this should be a joint exercise between academic institutions, providers and suppliers). Funding for projects should be linked to robust evaluation plans.

The procurement workstream is a critical element. The outputs for this workstream should be clearly defined (e.g. a framework for provider-supplier partnerships should be developed). The key initiative outlined in section five will form a solid platform for the initial phase of the plan. In the development of the information strategy, representation from provider organisations is critical to ensure engagement and ownership of the strategy exists within the provider community. If this is not considered, the same risks associated with the NPfIT approach will be introduced here. Representation from the supplier community should be through Intellect as outlined, but broad representation is required.

We would be happy to contribute to the further development of the plan and the implementations of the recommendations outlined here.

Response from IMS MAXIMS
IMS MAXIMS fully supports the initiatives set out in the joint plan. We welcome this joint initiative between the DH and Intellect to work together (as the NHS and suppliers) to define the future of health informatics. For too long suppliers have been left out in the cold and this has led to a stifling of innovative NHS IT over the past 10 years.

We view this as an initial plan of work and fully support the first joint initiatives to improve information sharing for the benefit of patients, interoperability standards for the benefit of the NHS and the painstakingly slow and laborious procurement process that is often biased against innovative SMEs.

However, there is one key element that is missing from the draft plan and that is, that if this is meant to truly be a joint initiative, then it should not be owned solely by the DH with Intellect members only having responsibilities for delivery. It needs to be a true partnership in order for both sides to see benefits and create a healthy and vibrant IT market.

We fully support the initial set of subject workstreams and would be keen to contribute further to the plan.

Response from the One Health Alliance
The One Health Alliance supports the joint plan proposed by Intellect and the Department of Health.

The joint plan outlined in the draft signifies the direct synergy between the Alliance and the DHID. The principles laid out in the document are exactly what is driving and underpinning the relationship development of the Alliance and its members. We are all working towards a model of collaboration and transparency to ease the pressures in complex procurements by commissioners and by doing so, achieving the most sought after reduction in costs.

The DHID recommendation that information on legacy systems is made available for detailed examination by potential bidding suppliers will ensure that the right solutions can be developed and proposed to commissioners based on exact operational workflows and requirements. These types of measures will also allow accurate costing of solutions, reduce the amount of disruption in migrating to new provider technologies, and ultimately simplify the entire procurement process.

The workstream around procurement is particularly crucial. Many SMEs have been shut out of the market for too long due to procurement being an arduous, tick box process and in many ways this has resulted in a lack of innovation and flexibility within the industry and the NHS. It is essential that suppliers of all sizes are involved in both this and the Information Strategy and that whatever final plan is put together that its objectives and aims are evaluated and measured.

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