Accenture to deploy new cloud-based NHSmail service across England and Scotland

Published: 13-Jul-2015

System will be among the largest Microsoft Exchange implementations in the World


Accenture and Avanade have won a five-year contract from the Department of Health in England and NHS National Services Scotland to implement the new and improved secure cloud-based NHSmail service across the two countries.

Almost 700,000 health and care workers across the NHS in England and Scotland will benefit from a unique set of services, which will enable secure communication to users of less-secure systems such as non-NHS partners and patients.

Accenture and Avanade will also deploy innovative services as add-ons to the core service including an enterprise-wide directory and Lync collaboration technology for enabling instant messaging, VOIP, audio and video communication, and enhanced collaboration among NHS healthcare workers. Supported by Avanade’s market-leading Unified Communications and Collaboration Managed Service (UCCMS), these tools have the power to truly transform the way in which UK healthcare organisations work and share information for the benefit of patients and staff alike.

“Almost 700,000 doctors, clinicians and other health and care employees already use NHSmail to communicate securely,” said Aimie Chapple, managing director for Accenture’s UK health business.

“The new, improved NHSmail service will provide significant digital technology improvements to help NHS staff drive even more-effective collaboration at all points of patient care. This will be one of the largest mailbox migrations ever delivered and will bring significant benefits to the way NHS employees exchange information, communicate and interact across healthcare.”

Under the agreement, signed last month, Accenture and Avanade will build new functionalities and maintain secure email and collaboration services that will be available to all NHS and social care organisations in England and Scotland. The two companies will also deploy a secure, multi-tenanted email service, based on Microsoft Exchange 2013, to replace the NHS’s existing platform, implemented in 2007.

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