NHS England has opened a secondary care medicines data pre-market engagement, with high level objectives around achieving a reporting function on stock and daily issuance of medicines in secondary care, and a price comparison tool.
With a total value of £6.75 million, the preliminary market engagement notice shares details of plans to secure capability and related tooling for the processing of data from hospital pharmacy systems, along with associated licensing and implementation support.
Initially, it is looking to develop a reporting function to trusts and a national dataset on stock position and daily issuance of medicines in secondary care, as well as a tool capable of comparing the prices paid by trusts with those set out in the national procurement framework for medicines.
The deadline for engagement is 1 November 2026. Estimated contract dates are given as 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2028, with options to extend for a further year to 31 March 2029.
Also this month, NHSE announced an open framework for the future procurement of Digital Primary Care General Practice Information Technology (GP IT) solutions, valued at up to £838 million. The framework procurement process is expected to open next month, ahead of an anticipated launch of the framework in Q3 2027. It’s to span three lots, covering: foundation electronic patient record (EPR) solutions, clinical and operational support solutions, and research and development.
NHSE also awarded a contract with a total value of £9.9 million to Kainos Software Limited for support with a range of services in preparation for the new NHS Online Trust. The contract covers data management services, digital definition, DevOps, and end-to-end development, as part of the virtual hospital programme Alpha Development Phase 2. According to NHSE, the contract may also be used in support of “short term/time bound/outcome based statements of work” across related initiatives.
Wider trend: Digital medicines
Earlier this year, NHSE published a funding opportunity building on the digital medicines first of type schemes, focusing on scalable technical capability across EPR and ePMA workflows, and GP Connect. The revenue stream focused on two themes, in medicines on admission, looking for EPR and ePMA capability to “consume fully structured GP medicines” via GP Connect. It also sought similar capabilities in closed loop medicines management, to include end-to-end and standards-based interoperability for closed loop medicines workflows in EPR and ePMA, as well as automated dispensing cabinets, and pharmacy stock control systems.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has announced plans to launch a regulatory AI sandbox with the aim to explore how artificial intelligence can support medicines development and safety. The sandbox, funded by the Regulatory Innovation Office, will enable AI tools to be tested that have the potential to predict how medicines will be absorbed, processed, or whether they may cause harm. The sandbox will also be used to inform the MHRA about the reliability of whether AI tools can support in deciding the safety of new medicines.
An EPR tool offering a calculator and clinical decision support for safer medicines management is being launched at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust. The Anticholinergic Medication Index (ACMI) tool aims to support prescribers and pharmacists assess patient anticholinergic burden in patients aged 65 and over in inpatient and day case settings. Integrated directly into the EPR, the trust shares that the tool has the capability to automatically update ACMI scores when an anticholinergic medication is prescribed or changed, using a scoring system based on 88 “commonly prescribed” medicines.
