ComMedica finalises £33m PACS deal with CSC
- 7 December 2004
The eight and a half year contract will involve ComMedica providing PACS to the CSC Alliance in support of the National Programme for IT (NPfIT). The CSC Alliance is the NPfIT’s Local Service Provider for the North-west and West Midlands cluster. ComMedica is part of the alliance, which is led by CSC and also includes Kodak.
Mark Simon, ComMedica chief executive, said: "The signing of this contract will enable us to commence the early deployment of PACS in the North-west and West Midlands cluster to meet the strong demand from clinicians. The CSC Alliance’s PACS software is among the most comprehensive solutions available worldwide for the delivery of radiology systems across a large healthcare enterprise.
“ComMedica’s PACS software is the product of many years of working with clinicians in the NHS and internationally. We look forward to playing our part in transforming the quality of delivery of diagnostic services in the North-west and West Midlands."
Simon explained that the PACS provided would be a unitary ‘reference’ solution with components contributed by Kodak and ComMedica. ComMedica will supply the specialist software allowing the capture, distribution and management of digital medical diagnostic images such as x-rays and scans while Kodak will supply the radiology information system (RIS), the computerised radiology (CR) and the long term digital archive for the system.
The company is only medium sized firm to land a contract in the PACS awards and one of the few to succeed in NPfIT procurements that have been dominated by big names. An alliance with Capula announced in April added strength in consulting to ComMedica’s track record in software innovation.
Gordon Hextall, chief operating officer of the NHS National Programme for IT, said: “We are delighted that the CSC Alliance has found an innovative PACS solution from UK-based ComMedica. We hope that ComMedica’s success will encourage other enterprises to participate in the NHS National Programme for IT."
Simon told E-Health Insider: “This demonstrates how really quite small companies can prevail in the national programme. We hope we’re beginning to show how companies like ourselves can do well."
He said that the contract represented a ‘very substantial’ increase in the company’s turnover and forecast that its workforce – which has leapt from 22 to 70 this year – would grow to between 100 and 120 by the middle of 2005.
Simon believes there will be other opportunities in other specialties as the NHS strives to deliver the Department of Health agenda. “I think radiology is simply the most advanced and most needy amongst the clinical disciplines [at present]."
News of ComMedica’s selection was first announced in May when a list of companies given the “right to supply" PACS to the five NPfIT clusters was published. The original list named Fujitsu with GE for the Southern cluster; BT with Philips, subject to contract, for the London cluster; Accenture with GE for the East and East Midlands cluster; Accenture with GE for the North East cluster (changed to Agfa in August); and CSC with Kodak and ComMedica for the North West and West Midlands cluster.
