Matt Hancock has announced plans to ensure every hospital, GP practice and community care service is able to utilise fibre connectivity.
As the NHS takes its journey to cloud based web systems, ensuring healthcare organisations are utilising fast connections will be vital.
The announcement stated 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.
NHS organisations moving to fibre is seen as a key part in delivering the NHS Long Term Plan to provide patients with GP consultations online through video and to support the the move to virtual clinics and cloud-based patient records.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said “Every day, our NHS staff do amazing work – but too often they are let down by outdated and unreliable technology.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.”
“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.”
“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.”
