£35m email plan to support NHS reform

The security infrastructure essential to modernising the health service could be in place within a year as part of the first national NHS email system.

Computing can exclusively reveal that the NHS Information Authority (NHSIA) is about to sign a £35m deal with EDS to replace 3,500 mail servers in hospitals and surgeries.

A detailed staff directory will be developed to support the new email system, and will form the basis for a secure public key infrastructure (PKI) network linking the health service.

PKI is vital for introducing electronic patient records - the cornerstone of plans to use technology for NHS reforms. It means every health service employee will be issued with a unique digital certificate guaranteeing their identity.

This is key to the long-term IT strategy for the health service, says NHSIA head of access to information Carrie Armitage.

'The email system is the sexy bit, but the directory behind it is crucial and will support many future applications,' she said.

'There should be enough core material for a national PKI system to be up-and-running in parts of the NHS within 12 months.'

IT-based healthcare will not have public confidence without the security infrastructure.

'It all comes down to trust,' said Armitage. 'Patients want the benefits of IT for healthcare. But there is a deep unease about the security of information.

'A PKI system is essential for patients to be sure their information is being correctly managed.

'Until we have an accurate register of who everyone is, where they are and what they do it is almost impossible to do PKI, digital signatures and identification,' she said.

The NHSIA hopes to sign the EDS deal in June, subject to central government approval.

The national email system will allow staff to access email securely at work, at home or on the move. The first phase of the directory, registering half-a-million of the NHS's 1.2 million staff, should be completed by September.

Public tendering for the PKI technology is about to start, says Armitage.