Platform covers the collection of both clinical and non-clinical information

Credit: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire/PA Images

NHS England has spent £2.7m on a five-month contract extension for the provision of a system to gather data from citizens attending coronavirus vaccination appointments.

Newly released procurement data reveals that a contract with cloud software specialist Pinnacle Systems Management – a subsidiary of EMIS, the UK’s biggest provider of GP IT systems – has been extended until 30 November. The contract, originally worth £945,000 and signed with both Pinnacle and Sonar Informatics, was previously due to reach the end of its initial seven-month term on 30 June.

The deal addresses the health service’s need for a “point-of-care solution” to gather data from vaccinations facilities across the country. 

The suppliers were contracted to “build and run a clinical data capture system for use at Covid-19 vaccination sites within all NHS England Regions”, the contract notice said. Such a system needed to be suitable for both large-scale dedicated locations and small local providers, such as GP surgeries.

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“These systems will be used to support deployment in vaccination centres (mass sites) and in local vaccination services (primary care networks, local sites and potentially community pharmacies) to capture non-clinical and clinical data about the individual vaccinated,” the notice added.

The deal came into effect on 1 December – the day before the Pfizer vaccine became the first to be approved for use in the UK, and a week before the first jab was administered. 

Since then, three further vaccines – from AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Janssen – have also been approved, and a total of nearly 70 million doses have been received.

This includes 28.5 million people to have received both doses of the Pfizer, AstraZeneca or Moderna jabs, and a further 12 million that have been given a single dose. The one-shot Janssen vaccine will become available for use in the UK later this year.

Citizens attending vaccination appointments are asked various questions about their health and medical history, including information allergies and other conditions.