Green light for Western Sussex Hospitals IT upgrade

A business case put the trust’s latest board meeting in March warned that “as it stands, most of the current infrastructure is at, or beyond, end of life and the likelihood of major failures becoming more and more likely”.

In addition, it said current systems had developed in isolation, leading to “inefficiencies across the board, both from a user and administrative perspective”.

The board was told the preferred option is to replace the four current computer rooms with one main and one back-up computer room, both of which will be upgraded to meet current standards with sufficient power and cooling to maintain a safe environment.

The underlying infrastructure would be supported by the provision of “reduced sign on” technology to provide improved ease of access to systems for all users. In addition there will be “virtual desktop” capability for key clinical users.

The business case added that some of the trust’s key software was “end of life” in April 2014, meaning there will be no further support from Microsoft, which could potentially leave it “open to attack by cyber ware”.

The trust plans to enter into a contract worth just under £3m with Kelway to provide the new hardware and software. Capital works would also be required to construct two computer rooms.

A trust spokesman confirmed that the planned upgrade had been approved by the board but said no start date had yet been set for the work.