Network saves NHS trust £1 million

A new communications network linking hospitals and GPs is set to save £1 million a year for a local National Health Service trust by using voice over IP (VoIP) calling.

St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals NHS trust have signed a £4.2 million, five-year contract with NTL Telewest Business, which will provide the network linking 170 healthcare sites covering 350,000 people. The programme is jointly funded by the trust and the NHS Connecting for Health programme, which is rolling out the National Programme for IT.

"Providing connected healthcare at a local, community level is central to delivering the highest possible standards of patient care and ensuring that the current major investment in NHS IT provides real benefits," said David Astley, head of health and emergency services at NTL Telewest Business.

The trust's new network is part of the Community of Interest Networks (COINs) programme, which focuses IT and communications on local healthcare, rather than just at a national level. Because of this, the local network is outside the BT national network N3, which earlier this week announced it too would be providing VoIP to NHS organisations.

The direct fibre network will allow GPs to securely access patient records across all major NHS IT applications, leading to faster treatment and better data integration. The trust will run local and NHS applications, such as email, patient records and results, and intranet services, as well as voice over IP (VoiP).

"We have a clear vision - to deliver the best possible service to our patients on a local level," said Ann Marr, chief executive of the trust in a statement. "To be the first in the UK to offer this unique system is tremendous and shows our commitment to a community-based network using advanced technology to bring 7,500 local staff together to give better, faster patient care."

The £1 million in annual savings are expected to come from lower telephone costs and improved productivity.

The rollout will be completed in December 2007, but is already operational in several hospitals and 20 GP practices.

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