NHS Scotland is making savings of £2.9m a year by
implementing a single set of business processes and sharing
management software across 22 health boards.
The project is part of the Scotland's efficient government
initiative, a response to the
2005 Gershon Review on cutting the cost of public services by
improving business processes.
NHS Scotland has invested £3.6m in a health business suite from
COA Solutions. The system is made up of core financial management
procurement human resource and payroll systems collaborative
document management and business intelligence sofware. It is
rolling out best practice business processes developed with
Atos Origin
NHS Scotland has deployed the financial management component,
with the others to follow over the next few years. The project is
expected to save £6.4m a year by 2009, rising to £10m when the
roll-out is complete.
John Francis, programme director for NHS Scotland shared support
services programme, said the software is expected reduce the
storage, distribution and other costs associated with paper
documents and make it easier for all health boards in Scotland to
share staff, responsibilities and information.
"Being able to access and analyse data from all health boards
will also enable a detailed and holistic view of the health
service, allowing for improved decision-making," Francis said.
Although England and Wales are using some components of the COA
software, they have deployed them in the past four years on a
site-by-site basis.
Five groups led by NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS National Services
Scotland, NHS Tayside, NHS Glasgow & Clyde, and NHS Lothian
will manage the COA software implementations locally with a view to
moving eventually moving to a single shared services programme.