NHS Scotland has signed a $569 million outsourcing contract with Atos Origin to extend its provision of principal end-to-end IT services for the next 11 years.

Atos Origin will provide IT infrastructure, data center hosting, security management, help desk, business continuity, application development and support and network services. The deal also involves a $13.7 million investment to set up a new data center in Livingston to host and support infrastructure, applications and vital patient data.

The center will form a solid platform from which to run critical clinical applications such as an electronic summary of patient information required in an emergency. The data center will enable secure access to patient information 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It will also enable the safe and reliable sharing of information across the NHS in Scotland and provide the basis for a truly integrated health service.

The new contract will cover local and national systems like the Community Health Index, Community and Preventative Care systems, child immunization, ePharmacy, PSD applications, payroll and the National Clinical Scottish Care Information store.

Atos will manage a team of suppliers under the Atos Origin Alliance, including BT, IBM and Sopra Newell & Budge. It will recruit some 150 people in Scotland over the next three years to support the NHS Scotland deal and other contracts.

The contract is expected to begin on April 1, ’07.