IT investment by Western European healthcare sector is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 2.4%, from $13.3bn in 2011 to $14.9bn in 2016, according to IDC Health Insights.
The IT investment growth will be driven by software at 5% CAGR in 2010-2016, while hardware and IT services investments will see investment rising at 1.7% and 1.5% CAGR, respectively.
According to the report, Western European Healthcare Providers IT Spending Forecast, 2011-2016, despite the effect of budget cuts and spending reviews the Public funded healthcare is expected to grow slightly faster than privately funded healthcare.
Geographically, UK leads the IT market with growth expected only after 2014, followed by France and then Germany growing at a CAGR of 4.3%.
IDC Health Insights EMEA research manager Silvia Piai said the need to contain the costs of the traditional scattered and disjointed portfolio of applications in healthcare IT systems is forcing IT managers to understand how they can rationalise.
"Opportunities offered by third-generation platform technologies (cloud, social media, mobility, and Big Data) certainly start to appeal to resource-stretched healthcare organizations," Piai said.
