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A group of healthcare technology suppliers have announced that they will work together to provide a one-stop-shop for IT systems to support NHS trusts throughout the NHS reforms.

The One Health Alliance, which was set up to bring best of breed technologies to healthcare organisations in both the public and private sector, has said that its members will collaborate to focus on the UK market in order to provide systems that support the changing landscape.

The Alliance already consists of a wide range of suppliers such as Oracle, Clinical Solutions, Ardentia and Sunquest Information Systems and IMS Maxims who have a considerable market share across areas including decision support, business intelligence, patient administration systems (PAS) and laboratory and diagnostic information.

The group will work together to share best practice and market intelligence following the publication of the white paper, Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS, which places a sharp focus on innovation within the NHS, and more recently the NHS Future Forum which calls for less fragmentation.

In addition it will proactively offer the newly formed GP consortia and existing NHS organisations an interoperable, wide-reaching set of solutions to support them through the changes while improving efficiency and patient care.

Tom Humphries, Business Manager at Clinical Solutions and member of the OHA said: “The suppliers for the One Health Alliance have been, and are being, carefully chosen to complement each other through their experience and expertise.

“While competition between suppliers is healthy, the group provides an informal discussion forum outside any specific procurement and looks at ways of working to benefit organisations in the public and private sector.”

According to the One Health Alliance, many new commissioners may have little or no experience of procuring the right IT systems for their organisation.

“It is paramount they know that One Health Alliance suppliers are not only working to discover and address the needs of commissioners at this early stage in the reforms, but also that suppliers are willing to talk and work together for the greater good of the industry,” adds Humphries. “It is this kind of openness that the NHS has been missing for some time.”

The One Health Alliance has started inviting frontline staff, including GPs to come and discuss how the reforms are affecting them and how IT suppliers can react to support their needs.

Dr Richard Fisher, a GP from Swindon said: “The world in which GPs operate is very different to the commercial world. 

“Not only was meeting with the One Health Alliance an opportunity to tell suppliers what GPs in my community need and have a interactive discussion about those requirements, but it also enabled me to see the commercial world close-up, something that frontline staff rarely get the opportunity to do.”

Source: One Health Alliance