Suffolk and North East Essex (SNEE) ICB has published a contract with a total value of £5.2 million, seeking an IT provider to support with GP IT modernisation in alignment with the Primary Care Digital Services Model.
The ICB focuses on securing the right technology and support for GP practice and PCN staff, with the selected supplier to deliver “a stable, flexible IT system to support a collaborative, productive workforce”.
Key requirements include supporting the ability for staff across the system to work from any location, ensuring mobile devices can interface with functionality and software in practices, and enabling certain IT tasks to be undertaken locally by practice staff to reduce delays to end user local service provision Suppliers should also be able to leverage the benefits of cloud architecture to deliver “innovative” GP IT support, according to the ICB.
The contract is initially set to run from 1 December 2026 to 30 November 2029, with the option to extend to 30 November 2031. Enquiries can be made to 17 March at 5pm, and tenders should be submitted by 1 April at 2pm.
SNEE estimates that an award decision will be made on or around 18 June 2026.
Wider trend: Health tech in primary care
For a HTN Now discussion, we spoke to experts from across the healthcare sector on the future of general practice core systems. This included exploring potential opportunities and areas of future growth, considering challenges such as integration and interoperability, and outlining what “good” looks like in this space. Our panellists were Bex Cottey, business manager for Conisbrough GPs, Emma Stratful, chief operating officer at OX.DH, Dr Sheikh Mateen Ellahi, GP and practice partner at ELM Tree Surgery and South Stockton Primary Care Network and Dr Shanker Vijayadeva, GP lead, digital transformation for the London region at NHS England.
Late last year, a HTN webinar looked at the role of digital in supporting the primary and secondary care interface, with our experts sharing details about their own approaches and experiences in this area, including best practices and key learnings. We also explored interoperability, collaboration between care settings and how digital can ensure patients are directed to the right place at the right time. Panellists included, Kath Potts, chief digital officer at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust and Dr Sheikh Mateen Ellahi, GP and practice partner at Elm Tree Surgery and South Stockton Primary Care Network.
NHS England has published its latest changes to the GP Contract for 2026/27, looking to build on existing work around improving access for patients, and making changes to QOF, vaccinations, and “enabling practices to prioritise clinically urgent needs”. Investment in the contract will increase by £485 million in 2026/27, NHSE shares, bringing the total contract value to £13,863 million, and offering “a 3.6 percent cash growth or 1.4 percent real terms growth relative to the GDP deflator”. The contract makes a number of changes to current requirements for GP registration, with the use of online registration to be mandated in all cases, and practices required to input information from paper registration forms into the national online registration system.
Finalists have been announced for the HTN Primary Care Awards 2025/26, celebrating GP practices, primary care networks, integrated care boards and suppliers who have delivered improvements in primary care. The awards provide a platform to share innovations, solutions, case studies, collaborations and projects to help shape future services and systems across health and care. Join us for a digital awards ceremony, from 7pm – visit HTN.co.uk – 11 March 2026 to find out the winners.
