§ Mr. LansleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will ensure that general practitioner practices will be granted at least three choices of information technology suppliers under the new General Medical Services contract. [163348]
§ Mr. HuttonThe National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT) has awarded a number of contracts to local service providers (LSPs) who act as prime contractors to deliver the elements of the NPfIT in a geographical area. It is the primary responsibility of the LSPs to work with a range of other suppliers to deliver the solutions that the national health service needs. This will include working with clinical professionals and primary care system providers to ensure that the systems in use across the NHS conform to the national standards required and can be upgraded to integrate with new national applications as they come on line.
192WThe new general medical services contract guaranteed a choice of systems for general practitioners. We will ensure that they do have a choice of systems that comply with agreed national standards. It is not appropriate to specify a particular number of choices.