Reconfiguring the health supplier market: changing relationships in the primary care supplier market in England

The multi-billion NHS Connecting for Health programme in England has completely reconfigured the relationships between the Department of Health, the National Health Service (NHS), primary care computing suppliers and healthcare professionals (including general practitioners). The implications of this reconfiguration are now becoming apparent and have potentially significant effects on the delivery of information and information systems in the health context. This article explores the changes in these relationships by drawing on comparisons with the previous system for procurement of primary care computing systems, which ran for much of the 1990s. The article also comments on characteristics of the CfH procurement/contracting process, the differing responses of suppliers, and the role of the existing installed base as an actor in building a new infrastructure for health records.