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Heart of Birmingham to be first VoIP enabled N3 site

08 Oct 2007

The Heart of Birmingham PCT has become the first NHS trust to sign up to BT’s N3 hosted voice service, enabling them to make free on-net calls and cheaper calls to mobile phones.

It follows BT’s announcement in July that the N3 network is now voice over internet protocol (VoIP) enabled. The enhancement means that NHS trusts will now be able to make free IP phone calls using the N3 Local Gateway Service.

Under the contract, the new N3 Hosted Voice Service will manage the IP infrastructure for three new sites at the Trust - reducing administration costs and allowing the Trust to put more resources directly into local service improvements.

N3’s chief executive, Stuart Hill, told E-Health Insider: “Following a series of technical workshops with trusts in different locations, it’s great to see the first trust switching over to the VoIP enables system.

"For the first time ever, the information and communications of healthcare organisations are being brought together to benefit from reduced costs, reduced complexity and increased functionality.”

The contract initially includes 280 centrally managed IP telephony handsets from network solutions company, Cisco, removing the need for on-site voice switches and equipment.

By connecting to the N3 voice gateway, the trust will now be able to make free on-net calls and reduced tariff fixed mobile calls are also available, following a deal with mobile operator O2.

Hill said: “By taking advantage of this newly enabled gateway, the NHS can save around £15m by cutting up to 70% off their original call charges. Effectively, Birmingham are the first trust to leverage their investment in N3 and really make the most out of this national infrastructure.

“The N3 hosted voice service is a great example of how healthcare organisations can capitalise on the existing N3 infrastructure. This latest deployment is another step towards our vision of the N3 network becoming the number one transport mechanism for voice and data in the NHS.”

The IP infrastructure at the trust will run across the Birmingham and Solihull Community of Interest Network (COIN) - a high bandwidth network linking-up all of Birmingham and Solihull PCT sites, medical centres and doctors' surgeries - allowing information and data to be shared almost instantly between doctors and medical staff at more than 200 sites.

Kam Ryatt, associate director of ICT from the Heart of Birmingham Teaching PCT said: “By converging our voice and data over the same single network we have delivered a simple, cost-effective and highly efficient way to manage our communications needs.

“The N3 hosted voice service acts as the icing on the cake - we will no longer need to worry about the day-to-day management of our telephony infrastructure - freeing up valuable resources that can be reinvested back into front line services.”

The system is due to be fully implemented by the end of November and BT are working closely with the trust to ensure a smooth transition for staff.

Hill said: “Over the coming months, we should be able to announce more deals. Interest has been great across Britain and we have found staff to be quite receptive to this new technology. CEO’s in particular are keen to take on the gateway and reap the clinical and business benefits that transferring to VoIP can bring. The potential cost savings involved really do make this a recipe for success.”

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