Primary Care News

Market engagement launches for GP cloud telephony

Published 8 December, taking the form of a survey, the body is seeking to hear from interested suppliers to inform a national strategy and framework for cloud telephony in primary care.

The information notice states it’s a market engagement exercise only and will not be linked to any future tender opportunities, however, the feedback received will be ‘central’ to formulating a national strategy.

It also states ‘interested suppliers should take specific note of the proposed new standards to be set’ and the central body ‘are keen to understand the maturity of the market to these new proposed standards’.

Following the exercise, a report will be produced this month to commence the development of the strategy. The notice also stated “timing is critical to support the development in the shortest possible timeframe”, therefore a four-week window was presented for interested suppliers to submit their views and comments.

The deadline to respond to this questionnaire is 5pm on Friday 7 January 2022. To participate and receive the questionnaire, please contact commercial.procurementhub@nhs.net.

Last month, a similar market engagement process was launched to develop an understanding of the possible solutions available to dental services. The information gathering process, in the form of a questionnaire, seeks to understand the current maturity of suppliers in the market and the ability to meet the digital capabilities of NHSX’s Digital Pharmacy, Optometry, Dentistry, Ambulance, and community (PODAC) programme.