Dell Perot: Technology can deliver NHS savings'

In September 2009, Dell Computers acquired Perot Systems for over $3 billion; the move gave Michael Dell's company access to the IT services sector, opening a new front against rivals Hewlett-Packard and IBM. Four months on, the UK public sector – including the NHS - is preparing for budget cuts in a post-general election world, and the new Dell Perot is facing up to the task of expanding its market share in British healthcare.

PublicTechnology.net caught up with Tim Sheppard, Dell Perot's regional manager for EMEA, who spoke about Perot's 18-year history of working in the UK.

'Perot launched in the UK back in 1992 with outsourcing in East Midlands,' says Sheppard. 'We started the healthcare business in the UK back in 2004, with our BT contract, to implement the National Programme for IT within London. We've since been attempting to move from under BT's shadow, and expand outside of London to the rest of UK.'

'It's been hard for us, largely because the National Programme for IT has so much wrapped up in it.'

Perot Systems has increasingly become associated with healthcare outsourcing; the company hired its first chief medical officer in 2002 to increase client satisfaction in the sector. A change in attitude saw Perot put clinical change and transformation at the forefront of what the company did. 'About 20% of my employees in the UK are clinicians or former clinicians,' explains Sheppard. 'So rather than having technology driven projects, we're having clinically focused projects that just happen to be driven by technology.'

Perot's change in attitude is a reflection of a cultural change that's already occurred in the United States, where up to 80% of hospitals now have a chief medical information officer (CMIO), who takes responsibility for the way IT and technology is managed within the hospital. A Gartner report into the emerging role revealed these CMIOs answer directly to the hospital CEO or COO, and not are not aligned to the IT department. 'This is very different to our experience in the UK, where very few hospitals appoint a clinician to provide that focus for technology projects.'

'Especially in the current climate, where there's a need to reduce costs and improve quality, and the NHS has its £15-£20 billion saving challenge it needs to meet in the next couple of years, there's a real focus on making efficiencies,' says Sheppard. 'All of us in technology believe it can deliver some of those efficiencies.'

The regional manager sets out one of Perot's goals, revealing that, 'it's obvious the NHS hasn't always used technology to the best of its advantage, so we just want to start a debate about the skills needed to deliver technology in healthcare.' Does his assessment that the NHS ‘hasn't always used technology to the best of its advantage' suggest it's now improving?

'I think it's getting there. When the Wanless Report was published in 2002, it said the average healthcare IT spend was just under 2% of any budget; he recommended it should rise to 3.5%. [Since then] I don't think many hospitals have gone above 2%, but I think the National Programme for IT has held a bit more focus on IT healthcare.'

Sheppard continues, 'I think healthcare has a long way to go in optimising the way it uses technology and manages information, including patient processes, workflow, and patient care settings from GP to the hospital and back again. It's one area that needs a lot of work. Another area where I think IT has a large part to play is in research and medical trials, which is an area I think that's better exploited but still has a way to go.'

That said, Sheppard says the country isn't lagging behind its European neighbours. 'The UK isn't doing badly [compared to other European countries],' he explains. 'It's the second biggest spender on healthcare IT in Europe. It's engaged with the debate of how to use technology. With the savings coming up, technology is going to play a massive part.'