NHSmail2 Project Overview and Transition Plan

Transcription

1 Document filename: Directorate / Programme Programmes Project NHSmail2 Document Reference <insert> Project Manager Mark Reynolds Status Final Owner Peter Dyke Version 4.0 Author Peter Dyke Version issue date 9/9/2013 NHSmail2 Project Overview and Transition Plan (Updated September 2013) ( Action Required Any health and care organisation wishing to continue with NHSmail, adopt NHSmail, or connect their local system securely to NHSmail in future should take action before December 2013 as outlined in this document.

2 Revision History Version Date Summary of Changes 1.0 2/11/2012 Initial Published Version /2/ nd Publication updated to reflect progress to February /6/ rd Publication updated to reflect progress to June /9/ th Publication updated to reflect progress to September 2013 including SOC approval. Reviewers This document must be reviewed by the following people: Reviewer name Title / Responsibility Date Version Jon Calpin NHSmail2 Senior Project Manager Clive Star Ron Walker NHSmail Technical Architect NHSmail Transition Lead Approved by This document must be approved by the following people: Name Signature Title Date Version Mark Reynolds Programme Director Martin McDonagh Sandip Kaur Commercial Manager Communications Manager Glossary of Terms Term / Abbreviation What it stands for Document Control: The controlled copy of this document is maintained in the HSCIC corporate network. Any copies of this document held outside of that area, in whatever format (e.g. paper, attachment), are considered to have passed out of control and should be checked for currency and validity. Document Status: Please note that this is a live project working document. As such, all statements herein reflect the current working assumptions of the Project Team and are subject to change and final business case approval. Page 2 of 12

3 Contents Revision History 2 Reviewers 2 Approved by 2 Glossary of Terms 2 1. Overview 4 2. Action Required 4 3. Introducing the NHSmail team 4 4. Background 4 5. What does the future service look like? 5 6. NHSmail Funding Status 7 7. Avoiding unnecessary local costs 8 8. Procurement Approach 8 9. Project Timescales Working with Users and Suppliers 10 Working with Health & Care organisations 10 NHSmail Stakeholder Council 11 Engaging with Professions and other bodies 12 Engaging with the Supplier Community Next Steps 12 Page 3 of 12

4 1. Overview This document provides an overview of the project that will update and replace the current NHSmail service with a new service by The purpose of this document is to help health and care organisations, suppliers and other interested parties understand: The scope of the project The implications for them The actions that they need to take in order to benefit from, or continue to benefit from, the NHSmail service going forwards. 2. Action Required The key action that health and care organisations need to take now is to: Confirm or appoint an NHSmail lead manager as the primary point of contact through which the NHSmail team will work to manage the transition to the future service (CCGs/CSUs to lead on behalf of local GP surgeries) Ensure that their NHSmail lead manager registers with feedback@nhs.net at the earliest opportunity in order to effectively plan transition activities The remainder of this document provides further context and explanation. 3. Introducing the NHSmail team The current NHSmail service, and the NHSmail2 project to create its successor service, are both managed by the same team within the Health and Social Care Information Centre ( The project team is led by: Dr Simon Eccles (Senior Responsible Owner) Mark Reynolds (Programme Director) The NHSmail service is sponsored by NHS England, represented by Alex Abbott, Chief Technology Officer. The project team can be contacted via feedback@nhs.net 4. Background The NHS in England is a federated organisation containing some 1.35m staff in several hundred individual organisations. NHS organisations are autonomous with regard to selection of IT services such as . Analysis indicates that the NHS currently uses in excess of 1.1 million laptop/desktop computer devices, with a rapidly growing number of Page 4 of 12

5 Smartphone & tablet devices 1. Partnering with the NHS, there are many other organisations also playing key roles in delivering publically funded health and care services. These are also autonomous in their choice of IT services. Many organisations have chosen to use the current NHSmail service (introduced in 2004), either in addition to their own local solution, or as their own local solution. There are currently about 631,000 regularly used NHSmail accounts in service in England. NHSmail is thus a very widely used and business critical service used by the majority of the NHS. It is also the only secure service endorsed by professional bodies as being suitable for the transmission of patient identifiable data. NHSmail is currently funded centrally and is provided free of charge to health and care organisations England. NHSmail is also used by NHS Scotland as their primary system. Equally, many organisations choose to operate their own solutions, directly procured from the open market. The majority of these local solutions are Microsoft Exchange 2007/2010 systems, with some Novell Groupwise systems in operation. Local organisations do not currently receive central funding for those solutions, although historically a significant subsidy was provided via enterprise agreements operated under the former National Programme for IT (NPfIT) 2. These locally run systems addresses, but are not recognised as secure since there is currently no published NHS standard against which they can be validated and no secure relay service to exchange . Whilst the current NHSmail service clearly includes the secure service (any ending it also includes the following services which are also very widely used: a national directory service, containing not only details of addresses and responsible health and care organisations, but also any other contact details that local organisations choose to upload a secure gateway to other secure networks (such as the Government Secure Intranet addresses such as used by the Department of Health) an nhs.uk relay providing anti virus/anti spam services as well as an (insecure) relay for local organisations running their own services A Fax Gateway and an SMS Gateway that allow users and automated systems (e.g. patient and staff reminder) to send SMS texts and faxes from NHSmail. 5. What does the future service look like? The NHSmail2 project aim is to ensure a seamless transition from the current service to a new, improved and more cost effective set of services before June It is then expected that the new services will continue until the end of the decade. 1 Source: NHS Connecting for Health NHS IT Survey, November The Microsoft and Novell Enterprise Agreements ended in May 2010 and October 2010 respectively 3 The latest contractual date by which all services must have transitioned from the current platform is June Our aim is to conclude the transition 12 months in advance of that date. Page 5 of 12

6 We envisage that the NHSmail2 project will deliver: A new, improved, modern secure solution for local NHS organisations to use to communicate securely with each other, as well as secure communication to insecure users such as non-nhs partners and patients. Continuation of the national directory service for all to use A new secure router to permit local systems that meet new published secure standards 4 to securely connect to the NHSmail service. This will remove the need for local organisations to operate two parallel systems, reducing confusion for staff, system duplication, and subsequent cost to the NHS. The new service will also allow locally branded sub domains to be used on NHSmail. Everyone will have a national address for their life in the NHS for example firstname.lastname@nhs.net and a local NHSmail address for example firstname.lastname@localhospital.nhs.net which both lead to the same secure user account. Innovative and competitive additional services as add-ons to the core service (including collaboration tools, cloud storage etc) that can be purchased locally and separately on top of the centrally funded core service. The nhs.uk relay, and the NHSmail Fax and SMS Gateways will continue as centrally funded services until at least March Continuation after that date will be subject to a broader infrastructure review being undertaken by NHS England. The above is a summary of the detailed requirements for the NHSmail2 project that have been developed since October 2012 in conjunction with a number of health and care stakeholders (see Section 10). The current version of requirements is included here. These requirements will continue to develop during 2013 in response to further user and supplier feedback and as procurement progresses. NHSmail2 Requirements - Draft Version 1.10.pdf The diagram over gives a high level overview of how we envisage the new service delivered by the NHSmail2 project will look: 4 The Advance notice of the new Information Standards Board Secure Standard was published in December 2012 see Page 6 of 12

7 NHSmail2 Overview Patients, carers and the public nhs.uk relay SMS Gateway NHSmail2 Service Directory Secure Gateway Other secure Government agency systems Insecure Insecure local local Insecure systems local Insecure systems local systems (NHS and other systems health (NHS and other health (NHS & and care) & care) other health (NHS and & care) other health & care) Fax Gateway Secure managed Service Router Secure local Secure local Secure systems Secure local systems local (NHS systems and other systems health (NHS and other health (NHS& and care) & care) other health (NHS and & care) other health & care) Boundary of Secure Communication 6. NHSmail funding status We cannot give absolute confirmation on funding of the NHSmail2 project in advance of Full Business Case approval, which will not be completed until the new proposed solution is recommended for contract award in June However please note that: The Strategic Outline Case (SOC) for the continuation of the NHSmail service to June 2019 has been approved by all of NHS England, DH, Cabinet Office and HM Treasury The Outline Business Case (OBC) is scheduled for approval during October 2013 (at which point formal procurement of the replacement solution can commence) The current approval is on the basis that a centrally funded NHSmail service will continue until June 2019 for the secure , secure gateway and directory elements. This remains the working assumption for the NHSmail team and should remain the assumption for local organisations. Page 7 of 12

8 7. Avoiding unnecessary software costs NHS organisations will be aware that a significant proportion of the cost of their local systems was funded under former NHS Enterprise Wide Agreements (EWA). Software licence costs often account for more than 50% of the cost of an solution. Going forwards, organisations wishing to upgrade or replace their local system will bear the full costs of any upgrade. However, much of the potentially relevant software licensing has a dual use in the NHS: It permits users to access their local systems, as well as national systems. As a result there needs to be a close link between decisions taken locally to upgrade or implement new local systems (and underlying operating systems), and decisions taken nationally to upgrade NHSmail in order to ensure best value for money in local or national purchasing. Local organisations should therefore be aware of the risk that they might purchase licensing in the next few months that NHSmail will purchase centrally, at a significantly lower cost, at a slightly later date. We therefore recommend that local NHS organisations carefully consider plans for any or operating system software license purchases very carefully in advance of the NHSmail2 contract being awarded in 2014 and liaise with the NHSmail team via feedback@nhs.net to discuss individual specific cases. This will avoid any risk of unnecessary local spend being made. 8. Procurement approach Given that /collaboration tools are not generally health specific in nature, we plan to use Government Frameworks as the procurement route, in particular the Public Services Network (PSN) framework: We anticipate procuring the secure , secure gateway and directory service via the refresh of the current PSN framework that will start in October HSCIC will act as the lead Government agency for the secure lot on the PSN framework. This procurement will first establish a framework of potential service providers (by c. April 2014) which any Government Department or health and care organisation may choose to deliver their secure service. HSCIC will then select its preferred NHSmail2 services from this framework by June Following a market testing exercise and evaluation of options for service provision via G-Cloud, we anticipate that the nhs.uk insecure relay, -to-fax and -to-sms services will continue to be provided by the current service provider for the time being. We will continue to review options for sourcing these services. With regard to evaluation and selection of the NHSmail2 solution, we will work closely with the NHSmail Stakeholder Council (See section 10 below) in order to ensure that the selected solution meets NHS user requirements. Actual evaluation and selection will take place during the first half of Page 8 of 12

9 9. Project timescales We are currently working to the following indicative timescales subject to some flexibility where necessary to ensure the correct solution for the business. Key Date October 2012 to August 2013 September 2013 October 2013 December 2013 April 2014 June 2014 September 2014 January 2015 June 2015 Activity NHSmail2 project launched Communications Network established with Stakeholders Requirements developed in conjunction with Stakeholder community Cabinet Office Major Projects Authority (MPA) Gateway reviews 1 and 2 held Strategic Outline Case (SOC) developed and approved Outline Business Case (OBC) developed and submitted for approval Procurement requirements finalised Transition preparation starts with individual health and care organisations NHSmail2 OBC approved PSN Framework refresh commences All NHS organisations take in principle decisions on whether to continue with NHSmail, adopt NHSmail, or operate their own secure system. All Local NHSmail Lead Managers nominated and in dialogue with the NHSmail programme PSN Framework refresh complete Secure , Directory and Gateway procurement starts (from PSN Framework) Secure , Directory and Secure Gateway preferred supplier(s) identified NHS organisations confirm individual plans for NHSmail transition Full Business Case (FBC) approved, new service contracts awarded Transition to NHSmail2 service starts (pilot process) Main tranche of transition of local organisations starts Transition to NHSmail2 service completed September 2015 NHSmail2 Project completed. New NHSmail service continues as business as usual operation. Page 9 of 12

10 10. Working with users and suppliers The majority of health and care staff use as a communication tool as part of their working life. Going forward, electronic communication with patients and carers will become the norm, dramatically increasing current volumes and reducing costs of postal communication. Also, as Smartphone devices become the norm, free can also replace much (costly) SMS messaging 5 whilst at the same time opening up the opportunity to increase the quality of communication. The NHSmail2 project will therefore ultimately impact several million individual stakeholders. The project is also a major opportunity for the IT supplier industry, so it is critical to ensure strong engagement with potential providers of beneficial solutions from the outset. Finally, since it is anticipated that the solution will be of relevance to other Government departments, we must work closely with other agencies to ensure that the PSN procurement delivers a set of more widely beneficial solutions. Other Government departments are also key stakeholders in this process. Working with health & care organisations To date, the NHSmail team has consulted widely across the health, care, Government sector and supplier community to develop the project approach outlined here and the requirements for the new solution we intend to buy. Going forward, individual health and care organisations must take clear decisions about their future intentions with regard to using secure . There are two options available: Continue to use, or adopt NHSmail fully. Operate or implement a local solution to NHS secure standards that can connect to NHSmail and be part of the wider health, care and government-wide secure environment. The requirements included in section 5 of this document provide a statement of the requirements that a local system would need to meet in order to be accepted as secure and thus be permitted to connect securely to NHSmail. The focus of the NHSmail team is therefore to engage with all organisations in a systematic way to help them decide which of the above paths they wish to take. In doing so, the following points must be noted: In future, there will be a finite number of centrally funded NHSmail accounts available. This number will be adequate to provide for organisations that already make fulsome and regular use of the service as well as pre-planned, forecast and agreed growth for those existing users, as well as new organisations adopting NHSmail. Local organisations electing to operate their own systems to secure standards will not need a separate NHSmail account. They will receive address schema to differentiate them from insecure users and be invited to connect to the NHSmail secure router. 5 SMS charges currently absorb 20% of the NHSmail operating budget. More than 50% of the population already own a smartphone. Page 10 of 12

11 Local organisations will need to agree an individual transition plan with the NHSmail team that takes them from their current platform to their preferred future service between now and As part of that transition plan, local organisations must manage their own local change programme. Key to the success of this will be a close and positive working relationship with the NHSmail team (and vice versa) in order for the transition to be carried out safely, effectively and efficiently. In order to work through these considerations, health and care organisations are now asked to appoint an NHSmail Lead Manager, who will take on the overall responsibility for the relationship between the organisation and the NHSmail team during this important period of change. CCGs or CSUs are asked to appoint an NHSmail Lead Manager to act on behalf of their constituent GP surgeries. NHSmail Lead Mangers must register to be included in the programme communications by ing feedback@nhs.net In parallel with this the NHSmail team will be contacting local organisations to identify these individuals in preparation for the transition. Other stakeholders with a general interest may also wish to visit and register with our NHS Networks site which holds key project documents and will provide general updates and supports discussions on key topics as the project progresses. However, please note that we will look to an organisation s nominated NHSmail Lead Manager to act as the primary point of contact between all staff within a local organisation and the NHSmail team for the purposes of managing the transition project. NHSmail stakeholder council To ensure best practice user engagement, an NHSmail Stakeholder Council has been formed 6. The Council is representative of the wider health and care sector and works closely with the NHSmail team to ensure that the solution is being developed with local organisation interests in mind. The Council also provides a forum for the necessary detailed and robust discussion to advise the NHSmail team. It also provides a private forum to discuss sensitive commercial matters during the formal procurement activities leading to selection and appointment of suppliers to deliver the new service arrangements. Organisations wishing to be represented on the NHSmail Stakeholder Council should feedback@nhs.net. 6 At time of writing, we are amalgamating the existing NHSmail2 User Council and the NHSmail Stakeholder Engagement Group (SEG) to form the new NHSmail Stakeholder Council. Page 11 of 12

12 Engaging with professions and other bodies The professions (Clinical, Nursing, Allied Health professions) will also be invited to be represented on the NHSmail Stakeholder Council. This continues their historical involvement with NHSmail and re-energises the dialogue as the service undergoes a number of important changes: The professions to be represented include: Royal College of GPs/British Medical Association (via the Joint RCGP/BMA GPIT Committee) Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Royal College of Physicians (RCP) The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) to represent the interests of the social care sector The Independent Healthcare Advisory Service (IHAS) IT Council to represent the interests of the Independent Care Sector Engaging with the supplier community We are engaging with the supplier community in accordance with lean sourcing principles and best procurement practice. Briefings have been held for suppliers via their industry association, Intellect Market engagement events and 1:1 meetings with interested suppliers have been held since October 2012 to gain their input to the project. Intellect has also convened a supplier council to represent the wider industry interests to the NHSmail2 project. Intellect can be contacted via healthcare@intellectuk.org Any supplier with an interest in the NHSmail2 project can contact the programme team via feedback@nhs.net to be included in our direct programme of regular updates. Suppliers are encouraged to engage directly with the Public Services Network (PSN) programme, via Next steps Health and care organisations should ensure that they have formally nominated an NHSmail Lead Manager as a point of of contact for further communications and ensure that they are registered with us via feedback@nhs.net Suppliers interested in the project should also register any interest via feedback@nhs.net We will provide further updates on a regular basis. We continue to be keen to receive input to shape the development of the future service to be delivered by the NHSmail2 project. Project documentation is published for review and comment at: Page 12 of 12