EMIS wins Glasgow GPASS replacement

EMIS has announced it has won a contract worth £1m in annual revenue to supply its software to 243 GP practices in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

The healthcare IT supplier was one of two preferred suppliers, along with INPS, selected by NHS National Services Scotland in January to receive preferred bidder status to replace Scotland’s much-criticised GPASS system.

EMIS said NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde had recommended EMIS software to replace the GPASS software used by 243 of its GP practices. It said the agreement was worth approximately £1m in core annualised revenues.

Sean Riddell, chief executive of EMIS, said the deal was excellent news for EMIS which floated on the Alternative Investment Market at the end of March.

He added: “As we outlined at the time of our IPO, Scotland represents a key growth market for the company. As Scotland’s largest health board, the Glasgow and Clyde contract makes up a significant proportion of that opportunity.”

Before the formal notification of the preferred bidder status, 51 GP practices in the Ayrshire and Arran Health Board area had already chosen EMIS to replace their existing software.

The company said it expected other health boards to reach their decision in the coming months.

In its presentation to analysts at the end of March, EMIS reported that at that stage it had a 12.7% market share in Scotland and estimated market shares of 19.6% for INPS, 2.4% for iSoft and 65% for GPASS.

NHS Scotland’s ehealth strategy, published in 2008, set out plans to replace the GPASS system used by 683 practices by March 2012.

EMIS said Greater Glasgow and Clyde was Scotland’s largest health board with 269 practices, of which 243 currently use GPASS. It said deployment of EMIS software would begin shortly, with the full impact of the contract taking effect during 2011 onwards.