Following the installation of an integrated resource management system at the West London Hammersmith and Queen Charlotte Hospital, Concurrent Computer Corp, Hammersmith Hospital, and Real Time Solutions of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire have formed a consortium to provide implementation and training on future installations. The relationship began two years ago when Concurrent won the contract to supply Hammersmith with its resource and management system, beating McDonnell Douglas Information Systems, which had an American-style billing based system. The company installed the UKP2m system within six months, and was subsequently delighted to find that it largely conformed with technology recommendations in the Government’s recent White Paper on the Health Service. The Concurrent package is real-time and integrated, collecting data at source and providing access for all departments with a network of 350 terminals. It runs on a 3280 MPS dual processor computer under the company’s OS/32 operating system. The 4Gb Mimer relational database and fourth generation language come from Real Time Solutions along with the heaRTS software. Concurrent also has a Real-Time Unix version which is based on AT&T’s System V, and has been enhanced to prioritise transactions. Coenraad Stork, Concurrent’s marketing manager for healthcare systems, is less than complimentary on the shortcomings of rival offerings. He says that a number of companies are installing billing-based systems for local and regional authorities that do not, and cannot, conform with government recommendations. Brunel University has recently published a report on pilot installations and makes that same point. Stork believes that it was not enough for the Government to provide funds for computerisation and then leave the self governing health authorities with little guidance on the merits of respective systems. As things stand, IBM could well dominate the market with billing systems, and the more extensive offerings from Concurrent, Bull, and ICL become isolated packages, which would seem to negate the notion of an integrated health service.
