10 hospitals test NHS project

The first pilots of the NHS-wide email and directory system have gone live in ten hospitals across the country.

The programme will provide a centrally managed service to all 1.2 million health service employees, replacing 7,000 different systems currently in use. A £35m deal to provide the service was signed by the NHS Information Authority and IT services provider EDS in the summer (Computing, 16 May).

NHSMail will run on a comprehensive directory of health service organisations, sites, departments and employees. Staff using the system will have a single email address for their working life, even if they change jobs within the NHS.

The mail and directory system will also form the basis for a national secure public key infrastructure (PKI). PKI is vital for introducing electronic patient records - the cornerstone of plans to use technology for NHS reforms - because it would give every employee a unique digital certificate guaranteeing their identity.

The email system is due to go live nationally in the spring.

Catherine Coe, NHSmail communications manager said: 'The feedback so far from staff in early adopter trusts has been extremely positive. The chief medical photographer from one trust has already found that the new service is very good for sending minutes to lots of people and can see that it will save on paper and time.'