British boost for Software of Excellence

Listed dental software provider Software of Excellence expects to benefit from the awarding of five regional health contracts worth $12 billion by the British Government.

The company says it has links with the successful prime contractors for all five contracts.

The contracts approved so far cover Northwest/West Midlands, the London region, the North Eastern region and Eastern England.

The contract for the fifth and final region, Southern England, is expected to be announced next month.

Chief executive Paul Weatherly said Software of Excellence would be working with the successful prime contractors to provide dental software for public health services and dental hospitals within each region.

"The scope of our involvement will be significant in terms of our company but the timing and nature of implementation of the work that we will be required to do for individual primary care trusts and hospitals have yet to be resolved."

The contracts would not have any impact on the company's results for the current year.

As an indication of the potential size of the company's involvement, Weatherley pointed out that the Northwest/West Midlands region had 1767 NHS dental sites, 72 primary care trusts and four dental hospitals.

"We see dentistry as an area where the prime contractors can deliver some quick wins through the software elements that we already have in place but it is not yet clear what emphasis will be placed on dentistry within each region in terms of its delivery within the bigger health picture."