NHS Scotland staff to be linked up on Microsoft platform

Microsoft’s digital platform Office 365 is to be rolled out to all NHS Scotland health boards, it has been announced.

At a cost of £80m, it is hoped the single digital platform for all 161,000 NHS Scotland staff will encourage closer collaboration between different services as it gives them access to a shared calendar and single email system.

The upgraded system will also move PCs onto Windows 10 E5, in an attempt to provide greater security against cyber threats, and improving the security of patient data.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “In Scotland, we are on a journey to fundamentally reshape the way our staff work together. We're creating the environment and the tools to allow staff and services to flourish.

“By consolidating hundreds of separate systems across Scotland’s NHS and care services, we can ensure that our hard-working staff are able to focus more on patients than processes.

“At the same time, we have a duty to protect people's information safely and securely. Crucially, this investment will make our systems more resilient and give further protection against cyber threats.”

Cindy Rose, chief executive of Microsoft UK said: “NHS Scotland can be confident that its systems are running on the most up-to-date software at all times. As a result, the organisation will have a real-time view of any potential cyber threats and can therefore minimise the impact of any cyber-attack across the entire organisation.”

In 2017 Eleven of Scotland's 14 NHS health boards were hit by the 'Wannacry ransomware' cyber-attack, linked to IT attacks around the world.