focus on health
How far should security in
NHS networks
constrain virtual network
flexibility?
NHS Trusts apply a WatchGuard
Technologies solution to take
advantage of Virtual Private Network
while ensuring security of sensitive data
Audit Commission reviews of UK local
The NHS has pursued a broadly similar approach to its activities: there is
authorities have been changing their
sufficient experience in the organisation to apply the concept of best prac-
tice across a spectrum of operational decisions. Away from the clinical as-
focus. No longer are the target
pects of the service - where quality of patient care is the overriding determi-
organisations being assessed
nant of purchasing policy - the organisation has been keen to implement
primarily on their book-keeping
solutions which reduce infrastructure costs, make its premises more effi-
prowess or even the notion of value
cient and ensure that the standard of support to the clinicians is maintained.
IT departments in the NHS have made their own contribution to cost reduc-
for money, but on a much broader set
tion, benefiting from steady falls in the capital cost of computing technolo-
of criteria. One of those is a ‘use of
gies while delivering more powerful solutions that deliver greater benefits to
resources assessment’ designed to
all of those involved in the Service.
determine how well those authorities
are using their resources to deliver
Reducing communications and networking costs
better and more sustainable
Communications and networking costs have been reduced; in part the result
outcomes for their community.
of a strategic change in the way that NHS networks have been implemented.
Effective performance and evidence
Leased line ISDN (digital) circuits had been used extensively in the NHS to
create networks which, amongst other tasks, handled the exchange of patient
of risk management form part of that
data in Communities of Interest or COINs.
assessment. Purchasing the cheapest
These are localised footprints within the NHS which encompass hospitals,
piece of equipment, for example, is
doctors, ambulance services and administration sites, all of which may have
not sufficient to secure the ticks in
a reason to access and share data on patients alongside access to applica-
tions inside and beyond that immediate network.
those boxes. Those responsible for
purchasing must demonstrate that
Secure, private networks - but at a price
they have taken into account the
broader implications of such a
Though supplied and managed by a third-party service provider, the leased
circuits passed through dedicated switches assigned to a single COIN. They
purchase. What are the associated
could therefore be regarded as ‘private’ networks offering complete security
maintenance costs of the options
for the information passing over them.
available? And in a changing society,
The cost of that privacy was high in financial terms, not least because this
how does its carbon footprint compare
type of network tied up resources irrespective of the volume of data actually
being moved around it at any time. The NHS opted to reduce the cost of
with other solutions in the frame?
localised wide-area networks by developing N3, a national packet-switched
The Informed Executive
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