Technology from OneAdvanced, formerly known as Adastra, has been used to support urgent support services for more than two decades, and a national NHS body claims its continuation is essential

The NHS across Scotland has arranged a new multimillion-pound deal with a long-term digital supplier to continue supporting a service enabling citizens around the country to access out-of-hours care services.

The deal was negotiated directly with the provider in question as NHS National Services Scotland – a body providing various shared support services across the Scottish health service – believes that there is “no known alternative” to the technology.

The tech in question, which underpins the delivery of out-of-hours (OOH) urgent care services, was created by patient-management software specialist OneAdvanced – formerly known as Adastra. The company’s platform “allows clinicians to provide vital out of hours (OOH) unscheduled care remotely by accessing patient records and integrating with prescribing and emergency services whilst local GP services are closed”.

In a new agreement with the firm, health-service support body NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) has unified into a single nationwide deal what was previously 13 separate engagements with individual health boards around the country.

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“Adastra databases will be moved into a single database instance,” a newly published contract notice says. “This allows upgrades and fixes to be delivered for all more easily and provides cost avoidance savings over the five years of the proposed new contract.”

The notice reveals that the five-year deal – which runs until 2030 and is worth £18.2m, inclusive of VAT – was agreed without any competitive process. But, rather, was directly negotiated with OneAdvanced: the incumbent supplier. The deal is set to be formally awarded on 16 June, following the conclusion of the customary 10-day standstill period.

“There is no known alternative software product available on the market and absolutely none that integrate with current GP IT Systems, NHS 24, Emergency Care Summary, and other digital systems this software is required to integrate with in Scotland,” the notice says. “This new contract provides continuity of services for vital out of hours services under one national contract.”

The decision not to open the deal for bids was permitted via the provisions of “regulation 33 of The Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015”, according to the procurement document.

Adastra – and, latterly, OneAdvanced – has been used to support OOH services delivered by the Scottish NHS for more than 20 years. It is one of the clinical IT markets dominant forces, and its software is used to support urgent care systems enabling the delivery of urgent care for about 40 million patients around the UK.