UXBRIDGE -- Underlining its commitment to long-term savings and delivering first-rate patient services, the South Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority (SYSHA) has signed a contract worth approximately 50 million with Xerox Global Services for a five-year printing and document management service project. The contract has been negotiated by South Yorkshire Supply Management Confederation (SYSMC), the collaborative procurement function hosted by SYSHA. It is estimated that the unique project will save the 18 NHS organisations in South Yorkshire in excess of 15 million over five years - money that could be reinvested in frontline patient care or other essential healthcare services. This authority-level approach to providing individual print and document management on a requirements basis is a first for the print service industry within the NHS.

Xerox and SYSMC, now part of the Yorkshire And The Humber Strategic Health Authority, have agreed that Xerox will work with each trust at a local level to assess their individual requirements and provide a service based on their specific needs. John Hopwood, Director and General Manager of Xerox Global Services UK said: "Xerox Global Services sees this as a ground-breaking initiative within the NHS. It demonstrates a new approach to the provision of a vital but non-core service, and shows how innovative partnerships can bring concrete savings."

Xerox's proposal, which was selected over four other applicants, will see it manage each trust's office environments including the printing of documents such as patient medical records, research papers and general office administration, in addition to their storage and retrieval, with the aim of eliminating waste and unnecessary print expense. Office management will be co-coordinated from a Document Management Service Office that will initially house eight Xerox office consultants who will be on hand to assist each trust as required.

Under the contract, Xerox will take responsibility for the trusts' digital print-on-demand requirements from a bespoke digital print room that will be able to meet the black-and-white and colour production needs of each trust from a single location. Xerox will also provide print management services for the trusts' approved litho suppliers.

The deal gives Xerox the chance to build upon its experience of partnering with NHS organisations. The company currently works with Sheffield Teaching Hospital's NHS Foundation Trust where it has installed a range of Xerox DocuTech and DocuColor machines as well as a seven-strong team of print engineers to handle all on-demand print requirements. The hospital has experienced significant savings since the start of the contract in 2004 and as such has been used as a basis for the contract with SYSHA.

Alan Wittrick, Chief Executive of South Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority said about the deal: "Outsourcing our trusts' document management and printing to Xerox will enable us to substantially reduce wastage from printing processes. This has both environmental and cost benefits, as well as freeing up our staff to spend more time with our patients and also to focus on core projects such as medical research."

"The savings that each trust will be able to make by working with Xerox can be reinvested in areas where patients will directly benefit, from new life support machines to improved emergency facilities."

John Hopwood commented: "This contract releases NHS departments from a huge administrative burden and allows them to spend more time on patient-facing areas. This is the way we want to engage the public sector in general and the NHS in particular."

About Xerox

Xerox markets a comprehensive range of Xerox products, solutions and services, as well as associated supplies and software.Its offerings are focused on three main areas: offices from small to large, production print and graphic arts environments, and services that include consulting, systems design and management, and document outsourcing.

Xerox also has manufacturing and logistics operations in Ireland, the UK and Holland, and a research and development facility (Xerox Research Centre Europe) in Grenoble, France.For more information visit, www.xerox.com

Xerox is a trademark of Xerox Corporation. All non-Xerox brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Media Contacts:
David Millican, Xerox UK, tel: +44 (0) 1895 843 196, email: david.millican@xerox.com
Kinross + Render (on behalf of Xerox), John Davies or Camellia Zarbhanelian,
email: jd@kinrossrender.com/ cz@kinrossrender.com