27 February 2004
The NHS in England is to become the first significant public sector user of broadband Internet access, the Department of Health has announced.
BT has been awarded a contract – worth £530m over seven years – to buy broadband access from national and local telecommunications companies for all 18,000 NHS locations. BT will integrate these local contracts into a national network.
Richard Granger, director of NHS IT, said providing this new network, known as N3, would save £900m compared with providing the capacity through the existing NHS network, NHSnet. Local NHS organisations would combine with neighbouring public sector organisations to bulk buy broadband and increase the efficiency of the project.
Health minister John Hutton said N3 would enable much faster electronic transmission of visual data, such as video and X-rays.
'The NHS is leading the way by becoming the first major user in the public sector of broadband. N3 will play a crucial role in the day-to-day business of the NHS,' he added.
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