Q. Which of the GP practice software systems are certified by the GPIT Group?

A. There are five certified GP practice software systems: CompleteGP, Health One, Helix Practice Manager, medtech32 and Socrates. Certification is important because:

• It ensures that practice management systems support the requirements of general practice.
• It helps to co-ordinate the development of GP systems with developments in health service information systems.
• It provides a roadmap for further development of the electronic health record.

Certification covers areas such as service level agreements between GPs and vendors, help desk and support, training and escrow agreements as well as the specific functional requirements needed for GP systems, such as consulting, prescribing and vaccinating. GPs should give careful consideration to the use of certified practice software when they are investing in a new practice information system. The GPIT Group issues a certification logo to products that have achieved certification. This can be displayed by the product vendors on their promotional literature and websites. The certification process and logo relate to a specific software product rather than a vendor. The certification process remains open to vendors of GP practice software systems.