Statement concerning arrangements between Fujitsu and Cerner

The Department of Health agency, NHS Connecting for Health, has been advised by the Local Service Provider for the Southern Cluster in England, Fujitsu Services, that it has officially awarded a contract to Cerner Ltd in order to fulfil its obligations for the provision of key services to the NHS.

Fujitsu had previously sought NHS Connecting for Health’s permission to replace its key sub-contractor. NHS Connecting for Health agreed, subject to contract, to permit Fujitsu to introduce Cerner’s Millennium product.

Work on the deployment of Cerner systems has been ongoing since early summer and has progressed with 17 trusts in the Southern Cluster while the contract negotiations continued. The first systems will go live before the end of the financial year.

Notes for Editors:

1. The South of England cluster comprises the counties of Kent, Surrey, East & West Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Devon, and Cornwall & Isles of Scilly. More information about the clusters are available on the NHS Connecting for Health Website
2. Fujitsu were awarded the prime contract for the south of England on 26th January 2004 under the Official Journal of the European Communities (OJEC) Contract Notice Reference 2003/S 27-022143 Details of that process are available
3. Prior to the commencement of the procurement a document 'Delivering 21st Century IT Support for the NHS - Summary of the overall procurement strategy' was published . In this document events of this nature were anticipated and; the contracts are structured to fully protect the NHS' position.

Media enquiries concerning NHS Connecting for Health (including the National Programme for IT) should be directed to pressoffice@cfh.nhs.uk / Phone: 0113 280 5816