NHSmail migration to Exchange deferred

18 Sep 2008

NHS Connecting for Health has written to strategic health authorities to tell them that NHSmail’s planned migration to the Microsoft Exchange platform is being deferred.

In a “dear colleague” letter, Will Moss, programme head of NHSmail, says migrations will now start on 9 January, after the Christmas and New Year break. In a call to E-Health Insider, he said he was confident the new date would be met, because testing had identified a specific problem that the project knows how to solve.

“Exchange has tested out at 30,000 users per server, no problems,” he said. “But the access infrastructure has not got to the level we expect.

“While we are confident that the number of users we have got now would have a good experience, we cannot be confident that the many new people who will be getting the service will have a good experience. And rather than give people a duff experience on day one, we have decided to defer.”

Moss stressed that no confidentiality issues had been identified with the access infrastructure. However, he said testing had revealed user experience issues. “Access might be slow, or take several attempts,” he said.

“However, in Donald Rumsfeld’s slightly odd phrase, this is not an unknown unknown. We know about it. We know what to do about it [and] that is why we can be confident about the date given.”

Moss said all parties involved in the project had agreed to defer and that the major cost would be running the testing team for an additional three months.

The NHS Information Authority originally awarded a £90m contract to Electronic Data Systems for a web-based NHSmail email service. In 2004, CfH handed this to Cable and Wireless, due to low levels of adoption.

In July last year, it announced that it would switch NHSmail from its current Mirapoint email platform to Microsoft Exchange 2007. Migration was due to start at the end of this month.

CfH has argued that users will see a significant improvement in functionality from the move and has been planning a campaign to drive usage of the secure service, which Moss hopes to make the core default secure messaging service for all 800,000 NHS staff who use email.

“We have started the process of telling heavy use organisations – that is organisations that use NHSmail a lot or exclusively – about the deferment,” said Moss. “So far, people have said they would rather have a good service late than a poor one on time. I haven’t yet spoken to people coming onto the service, but I am sure they will say the same thing.”

Moss told EHI that no accounts older than 13 months old will be moved to the new platform, but the plan is to migrate around 300,000 accounts. This is almost double the number of active users claimed for the service at the start of the year.

Lyn Whitfield

Reader's Comments

At last!!!

18 Sep 08 11:05

A sensible approach! If only the rest of the NHS could approach projects in such a way and put quality first.

At Last!

19 Sep 08 11:05

I think you'll find there is nothing new about NPfIT schemes being deferred. One actually being delivered on time. Now that would be something.

Quality first

19 Sep 08 11:16

Delay rather than a poor experience is a welcome change from CfH, but don't tarnish the rest of the NHS with the NPfIT history.

Rather than just changing the supplier and the technology, CfH could ask why so many health organisations still value local mail services over this remote and supposedly 'free' service.

Interestingly there is a parallel strand in Local Authorities, with Government Connect. Again there is a complete disconnect between the well used local resource in every Authority, and the Connect project.

And the apparent lack of planning or availability of end-end encryption outside these bastions of the NHSMail, Connect and GSI domains suggests an ongoing disconnect between the central IT visions, and what we are expected to do in the field, ie. engage with the public - our patients/clients/citizens, and work with and through voluntary and private organisations.

Even before quality comes the business case - does NHS Mail fit with what we need it to do ? Securely talk to ourselves - yes, work in the evolving health/social arena with partners - not really.

Is a delay to something that may still not really fit the business good ?

work in the evolving health/social arena with partners - actually ....yes

rmills@nhs.net

22 Sep 08 08:57

NHSmail allows secure communication with social care as there's a connection to the government connect mail platform, so as long as your social care partner is on the new platform then you're okay.

Wider Partners actually definately no !

23 Sep 08 15:24

As the health service becomes disintegrated and privatised (not owing as much money as major banks), there are increasingly many private and voluntary sector organisations delivering heathcare, as happens in social care. Information, including patient identities has to flow, and the lowest (electronic) common denominator is email (or even less secure, text messages).

So whilst select Local Authority employed social workers using central Connect email (rather than their organisations mainstream email) can talk to NHS staff who have not yet been outsourced, and who are using NHSMail instead or more likely as well as their local email, this is not seamless, ubiquitous or easy for either party to use. Or indeed comprehensive to cover health and social care givers, which was my point above.

Government Connect is in the early stages. Given NHSMail has been with us for quite a few years, and proven far less flexible, with a far smaller mail quota than local services (or even the free web based mails), I fear learning the mistakes of NHSMail has probably not taken place for the Connect project. It may be many years before we're all on centralised secure platforms, but this will still exclude the patient and citizen, and many important partners.

There are products which will allow a secure email to be sent (and replied to) beyond the fortifications. From the Ivory Towers of Leeds these places must be shrouded in too much mist.

Solution or not

24 Sep 08 20:23

NHS Mail is and always has been a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. This is why there has been such a poor takeup. A central idea for the NHS, but the NHS doesn't exist at this level. Patient identifyable information shouldn't be passed around in email anyway - it should be through a secure electronic patient record ! - and that doesn't exist yet !

Poor take-up?

25 Sep 08 10:51

It's interesting to still be seeing the poor take-up criticism being levelled at NHSmail. There are about 750,000 email accounts in total in the NHS - at present 300,000 of them are NHSmail accounts and staff are joining the service at a rate of 12,000 a month. This would not be my definition of poor take-up. As for a solution without a problem. As the previous poster points out, we do not have a fully implemented electonric care record, so I would say there is definitely a need for a secure means of exchanging sensitive information within the NHS. Also, remember that some sensitive or confidential information is not about patients, so would not be exchanged via an electronic care records service anyway. I'm not sure what the alternative is - losing CDs in the post?

re: Wider Partners actually definately no !

rmills@nhs.net

25 Sep 08 13:58

With the greatest respect, you're just looking for obstacles here. Anything can be overcome and if in the interests of patient care health and social care need to allow other partners access to mail accounts on either NHSmail or Government Connect (as we do with RA smartcards, etc) then it's something we have to work with.

Health and socal care is integrating and it's for the good of the service users/patients so we have to do what we can to get the practitioners working together by taking pragmatic views and steps to enable it.

Anyway, if we're really going to take shots at CfH/NHSmail shouldnt we be asking why they're shifting platform now?