The nine projects at the heart of NHS IT

N3 - The National Network

N3 is the name for the National Network, which replaces the old NHSnet network infrastructure.

The high-speed broadband network is vital to the delivery of new services such as Pacs (Picture Archiving and Communications System) and electronic prescriptions.

Connections to the new N3 network started in April 2004, and connecting up the 18,000 sites that deliver healthcare in England will take about three years to complete. This includes migrating 10,000 sites from NHSnet to N3.

What progress so far?

The N3 programme is ahead of schedule, according to the NHS, with 94 per cent of GPs' premises now furnished with a new high-speed, backed-up broadband connection. As of this month, there have been 12,978 N3 connections.