Microsoft and NHS Wales partner to modernise healthcare

By Elly Yates-Roberts on 26 June 2019

Microsoft and NHS Wales have partnered to modernise healthcare, giving over 100,000 employees access to Microsoft 365, Office and Teams to save time and money.

Other programs such as OneDrive, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, SharePoint and Yammer will be available to staff on multiple devices, enabling consultations and meetings to be held through video conferencing. The move aims to help NHS staff reduce travel times, allowing them to focus on patients.

“This new national agreement is part of our commitment to refresh NHS Wales IT infrastructure and ensure it supports the transformational changes taking place across health and social care,” said Andrew Griffiths, director of NHS Wales Informatics Service. “It moves our digital estate away from locally managed services and into cloud-based services, delivering efficiencies and economies of scale.

“Frontline staff who work in our health and care services rely on technology, to help them deliver services in new, innovative ways that put the needs of patients first. I am very pleased that we are able to deliver the most up to date tools to our NHS Wales staff to help them with the fantastic work they do every day.”

The agreement also includes an upgrade to Windows 10 E5, which includes security features such as Advanced Threat Protection to investigate and respond to potential risks.

The partnership is the latest in a series with the Welsh government. In March, the country became one of the first to give all local authority schools free access to Microsoft 365.

“I am delighted to see Wales continue its digital transformation by putting powerful technology in the hands of those who really need it,” said Chris Perkins, general manager for Public Sector at Microsoft UK. “While today’s announcement will directly affect 100,000 NHS staff, the benefits will also be felt by the millions of people that frontline health workers meet and care for.

“I am proud that Microsoft is helping the Welsh government on its journey to being digital-first and leading the way on using technology to benefit everyone.”