NHS creating its own 'G-Cloud' for digital services

NHS CIO Will Smart tells Computing that the organisation is in the midst of creating NHS-wide procurement frameworks for IT services

The NHS is in the process of creating an organisation-wide procurement framework for IT services, similar to the G-Cloud digital marketplace set up for Central Government.

NHS CIO Will Smart admitted that it's unusual for the NHS to make any organisation-wide purchases, but admitted that it is setting up a system to enable it to negotiate better deals with suppliers.

"You will see us doing more NHS-wide procurement frameworks," Smart began. "We will use the commercial scale of the NHS to strike the best possible deal with vendors, but allow local organisations pull off the most appropriate solution. And we'll do that at a core technology level."

The framework is already in operation, and is known as the Health Systems Support Framework (HSSF). It is however far from a completed project, with new phases, or 'Lots' planned.

"The HSSF is a bit like the G-Cloud environment within wider government frameworks that have the key vendors there with the right terms conditions available for local organisations. It's about striking that balance between national buying power versus local."

Smart continued, stating that the next batch of frameworks will be released shortly.

"Lot 1 of the HSSF will be launched later in July and is specifically designed for electronic patient record (ERP) systems."

Large parts of the NHS were hit by the Wannacry ransomware in May 2017, with lackadaisical attitudes to security blamed for the disproportionate hit one of the world's largest organisations took from the malware.

A lack of up-to-date patching of Windows 7 by NHS trusts and other NHS organisations across the UK enabled WannaCry to spread fast across the NHS. Worldwide, there have been more than one billion WannaCry infections since May 2017.

Smart has worked hard to improve security across the NHS since the WannaCry outbreak.

More recently, St John's Ambulance was hit by ransomware. However, the organisation successfully identified and mitigated the threat early on in the process, and St John's Ambulance claims that it was not badly affected by the outbreak.

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