There is yet more evidence of consolidation in the UK health and social care IT space today with news that Ascribe, which was taken private in an ECI-backed MBO in 2009, is buying 21C. 21C is a small provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions to health and social care organisations in the UK, particularly in primary and community care. 21C is too small to have to file full accounts with Companies House, so all we really know about its finances is that its turnover was less than £2m last year. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
This looks like a canny move by Ascribe, which plans to combine 21C with the WCI Healthcare business that it acquired in 2008 (see the UKHotViews archive) to create a new Consulting division. As we highlighted in reports such as ‘UK Public Sector SITS Market Trends and Forecasts 2010’, BI is a hot area in UK healthcare at the moment with public sector healthcare organisations struggling both to control their costs and improve clinical outcomes. The reorganisation of the NHS, which gives GP Consortia the power to commission care, is only going to increase the need for good management information in primary and community care.