NHS helpdesk opens for business

A new NHS IT service desk is now up and running across the country to help NHS staff solve their tech problems.

The local service desks in London and the South switched over to the NHS Connecting for Health (CfH) Service Desk on Monday, completing a nationwide rollout that started on 15 December last year.

The new service provides a helpline for NHS staff with problems or questions regarding systems and services brought in as part of the ongoing National Programme for IT.

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The helpdesk also offers medical staff the ability to register problems via email and through a web logging facility.

It will be especially important as more IT services are introduced into the NHS over the next few years. New systems include the Electronic Prescriptions Service and NHS Care Records Service.

The new service replaces the in-house National Service Desk, which is run by NHS CfH and is due to close at the end of January.

Since December, CfH has monitored the quality of service and a recent survey found 85 per cent of users have experienced an improved service.

An NHS CfH spokesman told silicon.com via email: "As expected with any new service, operational issues are being closely managed and a service improvement programme is in place."

The helpdesk contract was awarded to Fujitsu Services in April last year, in a deal worth £41m over seven years.