§ The Countess of Marasked Her Majesty's Government:
What services SchlumbergerSema provides for the National Health Service.[HL4910]
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§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner)Information about local contracts let by National Health Service organisations is not held centrally where there is no need for departmental approval.
The Department of Health, on behalf of the NHS, has awarded the following contracts to SchlumbergerSema:
- (i) The England-wide National Electronic Booking System. The contract was awarded in October 2003 and is due to run over five years, with a value of £64.5 million for the provision of core services. Options exist for extensions to the length of contract and the services to be provided. The service will provide patients with the ability to choose, from a range of options, which hospital they would like to attend at a date and time to suit them. The first bookings are expected in summer of 2004, with national implementation by the end of 2005.
- (ii) The NHS Strategic Tracing Service (NSTS). A contract was awarded in March 1999 to provide a service to NHS organisations in England and Wales. The NSTS is a secure database of all people born, or who have been registered with a GP in England and Wales. It maintains administrative data on:
people: (NHS number, names, date of birth, sex, date of death etc.);
places: (address, postcode); and
organisations: (GP practices, Trusts, Health Authorities) and the relationships between them, within the NHS.
Authorised NHS personnel use it to validate demographic information about NHS patients.