BT and NHS Connecting for Health (NHS CFH) have scooped a prestigious award at the e-Government National Awards for the third year running.
They were presented with the award at London’s Guildhall on Wednesday 26 January for their effective partnership working on N3 Service Provider (N3SP) - which has successfully delivered the secure NHS national broadband network which underpins many of the services the NHS relies upon today.
Working with NHS CFH, BT has built and is managing N3 - one of Europe’s largest virtual private networks which connects all NHS organisations in England and 1.3 million NHS employees. It has also been enhanced to offer NHS organisations videoconferencing and voice calls – helping them work more effectively, deliver efficiencies and better patient care.
The team was crowned the winner in the Central e-Government Excellence: Team category for its collaborative working on the N3 Migration programme which successfully rolled out new broadband and Ethernet services to deliver a faster and more cost effective service to the NHS.
The e-Government awards are one of the UK’s most closely watched public sector technology events. They recognise excellence and innovation in digital initiatives in national and local government, the NHS, education and the third sector.
John Abbott, BT’s chief executive officer for N3SP, said: “N3 has won several awards over the years but, in many ways, this is one of the most significant because it recognises our commitment and close partnership with our customer; NHS CFH, so this win is real testament to the BT values."
John added: “Our award submission outlined how the N3 technology team worked in close partnership with NHS CFH to deliver the N3 Migration programme. This highly complex project supported the roll-out of new broadband and Ethernet services to upgrade the N3 network leading to a faster and more cost effective service for the NHS.”
A recent review of the e-Government National Awards finalists (published at the public technology.net website) brought home the value of the N3 network when it said:
“The N3 network has been consistently held up as one of the most undeniable 'wins' for the NHS out of the whole National Programme for IT. As an example of collaborative working on a truly national level, its owner NHS Connecting for Health has been praised in the Team category of the Awards for the way it is transforming the NHS, 'giving patients more choice and health professionals more efficient access to information'. The project has also been acknowledged for its savings aspect, with a minimum £24 million annual direct saving allied with a further £15 million 'cost avoidance' going forward.”
Read more about N3’s award at the e-Government National Awards 2010