Innovation in GP IT

GPSoC will support continued innovation in the GP IT system market. Alongside the delivery of national initiatives, suppliers will continue to innovate to meet the changing needs of the NHS.

Practices can read about new developments planned for their current system and other GP clinical IT systems. The NHS CFH road maps show when each supplier is planning to deliver key national initiatives and the supplier road maps outline when suppliers are planning to delivery other new system functionality.

As requirements for health care and reporting change, practices and PCTs will identify new requirements for GP clinical IT systems.

NHS CFH will work with the rest of the NHS and the suppliers to prioritise key requirements for inclusion in future updates to the suppliers’ roadmaps.

What services are currently available under GPSoC?

There are standard GPSoC services that are common to all suppliers and additional services that are offered by each supplier. Details of the services offered by each supplier and available through GPSoC, including hardware and third party software, can be found in service descriptions. A list of all the common services is provided below.

Each GPSoC practice as a minimum will have the following Core Services:

• GPSoC Level 2 Service – an accredited GP clinical IT system which is compliant with the requirements for Choose and Book and the Electronic Prescribing Service
• System Support Service – the helpdesk and support services which must be offered by every GPSoC supplier.

Where the GPSoC supplier has developed the relevant capability then a GPSoC practice may also have:

• A GPSoC Level 3 Service – a GPSoC Level 2 system that is also compliant with the requirements for the transfer of patient records between practices via GP2GP
• A Summary Care Record Service – a GPSoC compliant system that is compliant with the requirements for the creation of a national Summary Care Record
• Most hosted systems available to practices today are not hosted to NHS CFH standards. Once each supplier has upgraded its infrastructure and processes then their hosted systems will be accredited as being hosted to NHS CFH standards and will be funded by NHS CFH.

Where a practice is looking to change system the following services are available:

• Deployment Services to a Green Field Site or to replace an existing GP clinical IT system provided by another supplier or for a practice merger or de-merger
• There are also data migration services available to support each of the above deployments.

Following migration there are two additional services which provide practices with access to the data from their old system. These services are:

• Data & Audit Trail Retrieval from the supplier's GP clinical IT system following the practice's migration to an alternative system; and
• Retention by the practice of the GP clinical IT cystem from the cupplier following migration to an alternative system.

Training is key to the effective use of new technology and each GPSoC supplier is contracted to provide training services in line with the GPSoC training requirements.

How will new requirements be requested and delivered?

Practices and PCTs will continue to drive the development of individual GP clinical IT systems by contacting the GPSoC suppliers direct to request improvements.

Where users believe that there is benefit in all GPSoC suppliers incorporating a requested improvement into their systems then NHS CFH can help with setting the standards for the new requirement and ensuring that it is delivered by all GPSoC suppliers.

If you think a requirement should be considered for implementation by all GPSoC suppliers then please send details to gpsoc@nhs.net.