Broadband Upgrade for NHSnet Signed

The NHS has signed a contract with BT and C&W to provide broadband upgrades to NHSnet, the NHS’s private data network. The total value of the contract between BT and the NHS Information Authority (NHSIA) for the upgraded network is £168m.

Funded by the NHSIA, the upgrades will give every GP practice a 256Kbs fixed link NHSnet connection. Each NHS Trust, Primary Care Trust and Strategic Health Authority, will be upgraded to a 2Mbs fixed link NHSnet connection. The cost of the upgrades alone will be £45m to April 2004.

The deal, which marks a vital step in the delivery of the NHS national Information Programme, will significantly boost the capacity of network. BT will upgrade all its existing NHSnet connections to more than 7,000 NHS sites throughout England, including GP practices and NHS Trusts, by March 2004.

The Department of Health describes the upgrades as a short-term project to provide immediate improvements to the performance of the current network, which was first established in the early 1990s. In parallel, a complete replacement of NHSnet is currently under procurement by the NHSIA, under a programme known as N3.

Health minister Lord Hunt said: "Broadband access will make a significant contribution to services designed to improve patient care and will give health staff the increased bandwidth needed to deliver the services people want. It’s another mark of the progress being made to implement our IT programme."

A national NHS broadband network is at the heart of the National Information Programme, as set out in the June 2002 IT strategy ‘Delivering 21st Century Support for the NHS’. It is vital pre-requisite for plans to introduce electronic appointment booking, electronic care records and electronic prescribing.

BT will upgrade NHSnet to a broadband platform that will link hospitals and GP surgeries across the country. The upgrades will use provided using the latest secure IP-VPN (Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network) technology.

Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT Retail commented: "BT’s vision is to connect your world completely and this partnership with the NHS demonstrates perfectly how our ICT solutions can bring real benefits to people in important areas like health."

Dr Gwyn Thomas, NHSIA chief executive, added: "We’re very pleased to be able to give users of NHSnet access to the increased bandwidth needed to deliver the services people want and which lay the foundations for the national information and communication technology strategy

NHSnet is currently used to connect thousands of NHS organisations and transfers millions of electronic messages every day, including email, administrative data, finance information and statistical returns.

The DoH says there are now 635,277 NHS email addresses in use in England Message volumes sent across the NHS network have risen from 76,420,287 in August 2002 to 106,864,555 in October 2002.

Roll-out of the bandwidth upgrade, by NHSnet suppliers BT and Cable and Wireless, is due to be completed by March 2004. The agreement with BT runs for a maximum of three years. In recognition of the re-procurement of NHSnet (N3) the contract allows for the cessation of contract following the award of the N3 contract to another provider who does not wish to utilise the platform. This cessation clause would allow for services to be withdrawn after one year with no penalty.