INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Cabling
NHS hospitals and GP practices to
get fibre optic Internet
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H
ealth Secretary, Matt Hancock, has
announced plans to upgrade every
hospital, GP practice and community
care service to full fibre connectivity.
Almost 40% of NHS organisations are
using slow and unreliable Internet supplied
through copper lines, which restricts the
ability to offer digital services to patients.
The announcement supports ambitions
in the NHS Long Term Plan to expand and
improve online access to NHS services. Under
the plan:
• Every patient will get the right to choose
a ‘digital first’ approach to primary
healthcare, meaning that more of the
307 million patient consultations with
GPs each year would in future be offered
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INTELLIGENTCIO
online, through video consultation, as well
as face to face
• Hospital outpatient clinics will also be
redesigned with more ‘virtual clinics’
involving video consultations with
consultants and nurses, supplemented by
face-to-face appointments where necessary
• Cloud-based patient records will help
clinicians access crucial information,
including high-resolution images, anywhere
in the country, improving patient safety
and speeding up appointments are let down by outdated and unreliable
technology. It’s simply unbelievable that
a third of NHS organisations are using
Internet that can sometimes be little better
than dial-up.
Upgrading broadband will provide the
fast, more reliable connections necessary
for video consultations and sharing high-
definition images at speed. “Faster broadband connections can
help us deliver these dramatic
improvements – we need clinicians and
other healthcare professionals to feel
confident they can access fast, reliable
broadband so they can provide patients
with the best possible care.” n
Hancock commented: “Every day our NHS
staff do amazing work – but too often they
“To give people control over how they
access NHS services, I want to unlock the
full potential of technology – this is the
future for our 21st century healthcare
system and a central part of our NHS Long
Term Plan.
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