By David Meyer, 10 July 2007 08:31
NEWS
The NHS will be moving its internal email and directory system onto Microsoft Outlook, according to supplier Cable & Wireless.
Cable & Wireless, which in 2004 took over responsibility for the NHSmail messaging system from its rival supplier EDS, said the system will undergo a "technology refresh" involving a transition from the existing core platform to Microsoft Exchange 2007. The switchover is planned for the spring of next year.
Around 260,000 NHS staff use NHSmail, which, although it is accessible from any internet-connected computer, is a secure system for sending confidential patient information. It is believed to be one of the largest single-domain secure email systems in the world.
In a statement, Cable & Wireless said, although "the technology originally deployed was found to be the most appropriate solution available at the time rapid advances in technology have meant that new and alternative options have become available which better meet the evolving requirements of the service".
Martin Goodman, managing director for public sector business at Cable & Wireless, said: "Cable & Wireless worked in partnership with NHS [Connecting for Health] on a feasibility study to establish the most appropriate technology solution moving forward and, between us, we have concluded that, as a result of increasing demands for functionality and flexibility of use, Exchange 2007 offers the best option for an enhanced user experience."
David Meyer writes for ZDNet UK
Comments
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1. Graham Coles
Good to see that they're putting user experience first and replacing that secure e-mail system with an insecure one.
2. Roger Huffadine
Dear NHS ask me - go on ask me - how many hours a week I used to spend finding and fixing MS e-mail problems. Communication is NOT just about the user experience - message delivery is MORE important.
3. Richard
Send patients as email "attachments"?
Imagine the savings if this new NHS IT system actually delivered patients.
Sadly, it seems to deliver only yet more bureaucracy and form-filling.
The best health care is delivered face-to-face, by skilled, caring professionals.
The NHS's expensive national IT system seems designed only to support its failed expensive national bureaucracy.
4. anonymous
£20 million in user CAL's plus new PC's to run the bloatware that is outlook on.
Total bill £xx Billion
sod the patients so long as we can send the joke emails around.