North East tech experts ITPS have won a multi-million pound contract to connect NHS organisations on 670 sites to the new NHS Health and Social Care Network (HSCN), as part of the Gateshead-based firm’s long term strategy to carve out a bigger share of the public sector market.
HSCN is a new UK-wide network connecting thousands of NHS and public sector organisations with health and social care providers such as pharmacies, dentists, opticians and care homes.
Created as part of the government’s bid to improve data sharing security and efficiency, HSCN is set to transform the way that health and social care providers can buy secure, high speed connectivity services. The new agreement allows them to buy from multiple suppliers in a competitive market place, and in collaboration with other health and social care organisations.
ITPS was awarded the three year contract by NHS North of England Commissioning Support (NECS) on behalf of NHS organisations across the North East and Derbyshire. The deal, which has the potential to add between eight and £10m of revenue to ITPS’s books and will save the NHS millions of pounds, will see the ITPS team work with hospitals, foundation trusts, Clinical Commissioning Groups and GP practices across the North East and Derbyshire.
The contract is creating up to 10 new jobs and will see ITPS use the state of the art facilities at its own £3m high security North East data centre to provide high speed connections for thousands of health sector staff across the two regions.
Gateshead-based ITPS was established in 2000 and has a 130-strong team working with a national and international client base, delivering strategic IT consultancy, security, data centre services and unified communications, as well as support services and workspace and disaster recovery.
ITPS managing director Garry Sheriff said: “We are delighted with this win, which is an indicator of our track record and technical expertise.
“We have 20 years’ expertise of delivering more for less to private sector clients, but without impacting quality. Our inclusion on the HSCN framework means we can now apply that experience to deliver high capacity communications that benefit the NHS.
“ITPS is the only supplier in the North East, and one of only 17 UK organisations, judged to be capable of delivering services that meet NHS Digital’s strict supplier standards, putting us in a select group of major players. The deal is also a validation of our decision to invest an extra £1.2m in our own core communications infrastructure, which exceeded NHS Digital requirements.
“A key element in our ability to deliver UK-wide connectivity services is our strong relationship as a Strategic Partner to Virgin Media Business. This underpins our ability to provide clients with reliable, scalable and dedicated connectivity solutions.
“HSCN is part of the digital transformation of NHS services and the biggest step change in health sector IT in decades. Opening up the market improves consumer choice, encourages collaborative working and fosters safe, efficient information sharing that will benefit everyone who uses NHS services. We are very proud to be playing our part in that.”
Stephen Childs, managing director of NECS added: “This is a complex project involving hundreds of partners, including seven NHS organisations across the North East and Derbyshire. The project signals a positive step towards integrated, patient-centred care working across large health systems. It is critical that we invest in innovative IT solutions. To enable joined-up, effective care we must continue to evolve and embrace new technology.
“The team from ITPS demonstrated a fundamental grasp of the project, and had the technical expertise as well as the proven project management and engineering skills required to deliver a project of this size and scope within the required timescale.”
