The Alliance already consists of a wide range of suppliers such as Oracle, Clinical Solutions, Ardentia and Sunquest Information Systems and IMS Maxims who have a considerable market share across areas including decision support, business intelligence, patient administration systems (PAS) and laboratory and diagnostic information.
The group will work together to share best practice and market intelligence following the publication of the white paper, Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS, which places a sharp focus on innovation within the NHS, and more recently the NHS Future Forum which calls for less fragmentation.
In addition it will proactively offer the newly formed GP consortia and existing NHS organisations an interoperable, wide-reaching set of solutions to support them through the changes while improving efficiency and patient care.
Tom Humphries, Business Manager at Clinical Solutions and member of the OHA said: "The suppliers for the One Health Alliance have been, and are being, carefully chosen to complement each other through their experience and expertise.
"While competition between suppliers is healthy, the group provides an informal discussion forum outside any specific procurement and looks at ways of working to benefit organisations in the public and private sector."
According to the One Health Alliance, many new commissioners may have little or no experience of procuring the right IT systems for their organisation.
"It is paramount they know that One Health Alliance suppliers are not only working to discover and address the needs of commissioners at this early stage in the reforms, but also that suppliers are willing to talk and work together for the greater good of the industry, adds Humphries. "It is this kind of openness that the NHS has been missing for some time."
The One Health Alliance has started inviting frontline staff, including GPs to come and discuss how the reforms are affecting them and how IT suppliers can react to support their needs.
Dr Richard Fisher, a GP from Swindon said: "The world in which GPs operate is very different to the commercial world.
"Not only was meeting with the One Health Alliance an opportunity to tell suppliers what GPs in my community need and have a interactive discussion about those requirements, but it also enabled me to see the commercial world close-up, something that frontline staff rarely get the opportunity to do."
About the One Health Alliance
The One Health Alliance was set up to provide a revolutionary approach to the
delivery of technology and information solutions to both public and private healthcare
organisations. The One Health Alliance is about delivering an umbrella of services
and solutions to match all healthcare IT and information requirements for all types of
healthcare organisations, large or small, public or private, at any location.
Each Alliance member has a proven track record and a network of employees with extensive experience ranging from clinicians, nurses, healthcare administrators and IT professionals. Working in partnership, collectively the Alliance solutions can help health payor and provider organisations improve financial, operational and clinical efficiency so that they can deliver the highest standards of patient care. Alliance solutions and services provide among others: Infrastructure, hosting and managed services, business and technical consulting, business intelligence and management
 reporting, evidence-based decision support, electronic patient record and clinical
 information systems and diagnostic intelligence.