London supplier switch looks closer

A number of well-placed sources told E-Health Insider this week that GE Healthcare had entered into a 90-day consultation with its IDX staff in the UK on Monday (24 July).

Ninety days is the minimum consultation period between employers and employees if 100 or more employees may be dismissed as redundant at one establishment within a period of 90 days or less, according to the Department of Trade and Industry guidance.

The company did not deny that the consultation had started, but a spokesperson told E-Health Insider: “We are not making any external comment at this time.”

IDX, which was bought by GE in January 2006, was originally selected as the software supplier for both London and the South of England. Initially this was to be delivered as a single solution across both regions in a project led by BT. Last summer Fujitsu Alliance, the local service provider in the South, dropped IDX in favour of Cerner. A year on London looks set to follow.

There has been persistent speculation about a switch in the supplier for London led by an analyst opinion reported in E-Health Insider on 13 June and followed by a report of an “imminent” announcement of the changes at the start of this month.

This was followed by yet another article in Computing magazine suggesting that NHS IT director-general Richard Granger has stepped in to delay the formal announcement of the proposals for two weeks. The hiatus was said to be due to the need for Granger’s Connecting for Health team to review the supplier situation across the programme.

One senior source told EHI that the announcement of the switch was likely to be made next week.

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Computing: NHS puts supplier swap on hold