Fibre-optic broadband to be rolled out across the NHS, Health Secretary says

[Northerner]

All hospitals and GPs will soon have fibre-optic broadband access to help them “unlock the full potential of technology”, the Health Secretary has said.

Matt Hancock will announce plans to upgrade broadband speed across the NHS in a speech at the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) technology conference on Tuesday.

Around 40% of NHS organisations are currently using slow internet, making it difficult for them to offer the latest services such as video consultation, the Department of Health and Social Care said.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/p...oadband-rolled-NHS-Health-Secretary-says.html

 

[nonethewiser]

Surprised its not widely used already, been around a while now.

 

[Docb]

Sounds like one of those things which looks really good and where a politician can stand up and sound really good. The devil is in the detail, which is where things begin to fall apart. For example, fast broadband from the hospital to the rest of the world is all well and good but a bit useless if the network inside the hospital is dated.

 

[Ralph-YK]

It will also be affected by the NHS's own internal networks (withing hospitals & between centres), servers and how they're set up. Example: staff's log in details will be held on a central server (one computer, sat miles away, with all the passwords & usernames on), and how well that server can deal with requests for login will be a big part. All sorts of things will be provided by servers.

I can see it helping passing all the x-rays, scans etc around, or when the consultant checks them.

Oh, this is presuming the fiber optic is for more than just internet access.

[Edited]

 

[Ralph-YK]

Is this just for internet access? Or for the NHS's own networks? If it is for the NHS's network, between hospitals, & other centres, it may help day to day use.

 

[Madeline]

I’ve had Skype consults with my immunologist in the past, incredibly helpful to not have to travel for hours to see him, and be able to chat via my local hospital. Having experienced both, I personally found no difference in quality of consult, and thoroughly appreciated the cut in travel time.

 

[mikeyB]

Needless to say, it’s better in Scotland. I’ve said this before, but when MrsB fell and acquired a sub capital fracture of the left humerus, and was X-rayed on Mull, those X-rays were viewed by fracture specialists in Glasgow within ten minutes, and advice came the other way. Every hospital I visited had access to my medical records. You don’t get that with dial up Internet.

I wouldn’t accept a Skype consultation, that’s an unsecured public network. Apart from that, it’s owned by Microsoft who have allowed intelligence agencies unfettered access to Skype traffic and content. Many network controllers ban Skype for that reason. If the intelligence agencies have unfettered access, so do Microsoft.