NZ software drills into NHS system

By ADAM GIFFORD

Listed company Software of Excellence is confident its dental practice management software will be a key component of the English National Health Service's shift to electronic record systems.

Chief executive Paul Weatherly said the only question was the final shape of the reforms and how they would impact on the wider market.

"We are still not sure what winning means," Weatherly said. "The Government will choose preferred solutions providers. After that individual regions and trusts and hospitals will go through a semi-formal selection process, so it will roll out over a period of time.

"It seems like public dental hospitals and units and community care services will definitely be included, but there is uncertainty about how far the NHS will go with bringing private dental practices into the national scheme."

The British Government is spending £1.2 billion ($3.25 billion) on the new electronic Integrated Care Record Service for NHS patients, with a further £65.2 million for dental records.

Software of Excellence is included in all but one of the consortiums bidding for each of the five regional contracts on offer, and was in all four consortiums bidding for a separate contract for a medical record system for defence services.

Weatherly said uncertainty over the reforms affected sales of Software of Excellence's Exact Professional product this year because many private practices were holding off until they saw what the NHS did.

However, the slowdown was not as deep as expected, and the company was selling more than 20 Exact Professional sites a month and 70 sites were awaiting installation.

Unaudited results for the six months to September 30 show a loss of $1.04 million, at the upper end of forecasts made at the time of the company's annual meeting.

Sales were up 18 per cent at $8.3 million, and recurring income was 44 per cent higher at $3.89 million, both from new business and from customers acquired with the purchase of British software competitor Advanced Healthcare.

Weatherly said Advanced proved a good buy for financial and strategic reasons.