SE Health Department NHS, MEL

NHSiS TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE AND WEBSITE DEVELOPMENTS

Summary

1. This letter announces a number of developments intended to assist all NHSiS organisations in the development and use of electronic communications by voice, email and website:

A national e-mail directory service for NHSnet users has been commissioned and will be ready for use by March 2000.
Extension of the national managed message handling service, which is currently an X400 service, to include a relay service for the transfer of SMTP e-mail. (X400 remains the preferred vehicle for sensitive and patient identifiable messages; SMTP, the now ubiquitous protocol for the Internet, is currently less secure than X400 but is suitable for a great deal of messages).
The handling charge for each message carried on the NHSnet managed message handling service is being met centrally with effect from 1 November 1999.

The respective purposes of the Scottish Executive and Scottish Health On the Web (SHOW) websites are clarified and a programme of work is announced to put MELS, other extant Circulars and guidance on to the SHOW website. From a date to be announced SHOW will be the primary vehicle for publishing such guidance but paper copies will continue to be produced where that is appropriate.

Background

National E-mail Directory Service

2. All NHSiS organisations require access to a national e-mail directory service to support e-mail traffic between NHSiS organisations. This will avoid a proliferation of personal address books of various sorts and an enormous duplication of maintenance effort with inevitable inconsistency and variation in the information. Unsuccessful deliveries of mail and subsequent recovery actions will also be minimised.

3. The directory service will be managed under our existing national contract. It will be accessible by all NHSiS staff who have web browser access over NHSnet to the SHOW Intranet website. Our plans are to provide a total of 10,000 address slots in Year 1 and to increase this to 15,000 in Year 2 and 3. We will review this as necessary. Our expectation is that this will be sufficient, in the first instance, to cover all GPs and their Practice Managers and to give a batch of addresses to each NHS organisation.

NHS MEL (1999)88
23rd December 1999
____________________________

Addresses
For action

General Managers, Health Boards
Chief Executives, NHS Trsut

General Manager,
Common Services Agency

General Manager,
State Hospitals Board for Scotland

Executive Director, SCPMDE

Chief Executive,
Scottish Amublance Service Board

For information

Chief Executive, Health Education Board

______________________________

Enquiries to:
Charlie Knox
NHS Management Executive
Room 355
St Andrew's House
EDINBURGH
EH1 3DG

Tel: 0131-244 3577
Fax: 0131-244 3470

Charlles.knox@scotland.gov.uk

_____________________________

4. Each NHSiS organisation with entries in the national directory will be asked to nominate a List Manager and deputy responsible for local address books, fault reporting and acting as the organisations main point of contact. The list manager will be concerned with the maintenance, accuracy and currency of the local information and to provide amendments to the national directory. The task is not expected to be a significant addition to the work already required to maintain local and personal address books. Some specific points arising are:

Details of the List Managers for all Health Boards and NHS Trusts should be submitted to Ziggy Iwaniec at CSA/ ISSG (Ziggy.Iwaniec@isd.csa.scot.nhs.uk) by 22 January 2000.
Training for List Managers will be organised early in the new year.
GPs’ information will be the responsibility of the appropriate Primary Care Trust or Island Health Board List Manager.
A central helpline facility will be provided by CSA / ISSG.
The training needs of General Practices will be a particular priority during the implementation of these facilities

Central Payment of Managed Message Handling Charges

5. Payment of message handling charges will be made centrally with effect 1 November 1999. One account will be submitted to the Department. This brings a number of advantages:

It reduces the time and money wasted by authorising over 1,000 areas of the Health Service to spend small amounts of money.

It will bring the costs to NHSiS as a whole down.

The new arrangement includes provision, to all NHS organisations registered to use the managed X400 service, of a managed SMTP Relay Service. This will offer simple Internet-like email use. Furthermore, SMTP messages to other NHS entities will be constrained in transit within the private NHSnet network. The precise process required to enable this facility at each NHSnet user site is currently being defined and further information will issue in due course.

No action is required other than within ISSG and the Health Department. ISSG will issue advice soon on what action is required to configure end user equipment to take advantage of the managed SMTP Relay Service. Any NHSiS organisation not registered for the X400 service, i.e. with no requirement to transmit sensitive or patient confidential messages, should also contact ISSG if it wishes to register and thereby access the managed SMTP service.

Transmission of Patient Identifiable and other sensitive information

6. Currently only X400 messages will be held securely within the boundaries of NHSnet while being transmitted between NHSnet connected organisations. Currently when SMTP e-mail is being used NHSnet may direct the e-mail to the Internet, and receive it back via one of the NHSnet firewalls. For this reason X400 should continue to be used for patient identifiable or sensitive information. When SMTP is established as a Managed Relay Service wholly within NHSnet this guidance will be reviewed. We will also be reviewing the use of NHSnet, other available networks and the opportunities offered by Internet and encryption technologies over the next 6 months.

Getting Value for Money for Telecommunications

7. It is self evident that we should get the best possible value for money from contracts with our telecommunications suppliers. Our major suppliers offer schemes with a range of significant discounts and facilities. Every NHSiS organisation should ensure these schemes are assessed in the light of local requirements and best value for money obtained. Further information about options available is obtainable from ISSG. All NHSiS organisations are reminded that extant guidance on Telecommunications Policy and Management and the NHSnet are provided in NHS MEL (1996) 80 dated 25 September 1996.

Use of Scottish Executive and SHOW websites by the Health Department

8. In order to achieve consistency in our approach to the publication of material on the web the following policy is adopted.

The Scottish Executive website, which is open to the public, will be the primary host of Health Department information on the Functions of the Department, Press Releases, and significant policy publications such as White Papers. It will also contain reports and guidance which cross sectors e.g. touch on local government or education or social work matters as well as health. When appropriate hyperlinks will be lodged in the SHOW website to point to the document in the Scottish Executive website.

The SHOW website, which is also accessible to the public, will be the host for general information and guidance such as MELs, other circulars and a wide range of professional guidance which emanates from the Health Department. This material will sit within a specially constructed Health Department site within SHOW.

Any enquiries about Health Department material within the Scottish Executive or SHOW websites should be directed to David Brennan (david.brennan@scotland.gov.uk). of the Departments Business Support Unit.

A programme of work is being initiated within the Health Department to identify the extant circulars, guidance and reports which will be lodged on these websites and you will be kept informed about progress.

Action Required

9. Health Boards and NHS Trusts are asked to:

nominate a list manager to act for them in respect of the National Directory Services by 30 December. (ISSG will let the list manager know the size of his address block early in January)
submit directory data for their organisation to ISSG by 29 February.
note the changes in respect of payment on X400 message handling charges.
note guidance on transmission of patient identifiable or sensitive information.
review their telecommunications contractual arrangements to ensure they get best value for money.
note the policy for management of NHSiS related websites.
Primary Care Trusts and Island Health Boards should copy this circular to all GP practices and LHCCs.

JOHN ALDRIDGE
Director of Finance