NHS users treated to free Wi-Fi

Every building across the NHS will be equipped with free Wi-Fi in the future, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has confirmed.

The move is linked to the government's plans to reduce paper and errors by digitising as much of the NHS as possible. And, while no clear deadlines for the Wi-Fi rollout have been set, it's expected to tie in with the wider digitisation goal of 2020.

"Everyone using the NHS expects it to be a world leader in digital healthcare and free Wi-Fi is an essential part of making that a reality," Hunt said.

"It will give patients and staff the ability to access the services they need as well as freeing up clinical time and reducing overall costs."

Some NHS trusts already offer Wi-Fi, although some of this provision is not free. Today's announcement is more a message of intent from the government that such connectivity will be made more widely available.

Indeed, while a 1 billion pot was made available for the rollout as part of the autumn spending review, the exact cost or infrastructure requirements have yet to be investigated in depth.

A department of Health spokesman told IT Pro that NHS England is currently mapping the digital maturity of different trusts and it is likely this will provide further detail on what exactly is needed and where when it comes to Wi-Fi.

Lastminute.com founder and digital champion Martha Lane Fox was commissioned by the government earlier this year to look at how technology could boost the NHS.

Her recommendations, published earlier this month, included the provision of free Wi-Fi across the NHS in addition to bolstering the workforce's digital skills and encouraging at least 10 per cent of GP patients to use digital self-service elements by 2017.

Having free Wi-Fi would allow patients to keep in contact with the outside world via social media and so on in addition to self-monitoring using apps, Lane Fox said.

Furthermore, widespread Wi-Fi use has the potential to free up NHS professionals' time and move them away from administration towards patient care. Greater use of e-prescribing would also cut medication errors by 50 per cent, the report claimed.

"One of the founding principles of the NHS was to ensure that everyone - irrespective of means, age, sex, or occupation - should have equal opportunity to benefit from the best and most up to date medical and allied services available," Lane Fox said.

"In the network age, universality, equity and quality must be at the very centre of how we build, adopt and scale new technologies in health. No-one must be left behind."

Tim Kelsey, National Information Board Chair and NHS England National Director of Patients and Information, added: "Digital health tools can dramatically improve people's lives and wellbeing. These bold challenges to the system to ensure that every person in the UK benefits are very welcome, and will galvanise work already underway to put power in the hands of patients, enabling them to take control of their care and improve their health."