John Swinney accused of underfunding health IT infrastructure after collapse of major GP software provider

Scottish GPS hardware is “out of date” and “designed for the English market”, according to the Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Sandesh Gulhane.

First Minister John Swinney and Gulhane clashed during First Minister's Questions over the suitability of NHS IT infrastructure, after Scottish GP’s major software provider went bust last week.

Gulhane said the British Medical Association had told him the Scottish Government has not “invested well” in GP IT infrastructure, adding that workers were “using legacy software without support from software companies”.

He continued: “Our systems in our Scottish GP surgeries are often designed for the English market, downgraded and shoehorned into our surgeries.”

Holyrood has contacted BMA for comment on the allegations.

Last week, Cegedim SA announced that its British subsidiary, In Practice Systems Limited (INPS), which supplies the Vision clinical IT system used by most GP surgeries in Scotland, had gone into voluntary administration.

Designed to improve how health organisations operate, Vision allowed doctors to carry out remote consultations and provided analytical tools to help them decide on the most suitable treatments for patients.

The Tory MSP said that the news was a “disaster waiting in the making” and could leave GPs “unable to safely see patients”.

Swinney insisted there had been no impact to patient care or the availability of IT systems for GPs as a result of this announcement.

He said: “Scottish Government officials are liaising with NHS National Services Scotland, which holds the national framework contract with INPS on behalf of NHS Scotland and the INPS administrators. NSS has established an incident management team and contingency planning is under way. The Royal College of General Practitioners, the British Medical Association, GP practices and health boards in Scotland have been fully appraised of the situation.”

Swinney confirmed the company is now up for sale, and a meeting with counterparts across the four nations is due to take place tomorrow.

Health secretary Neil Gray is also expected to give a “fuller update” on the situation in January.