In a bid to improve patient experience and health care services, free Wi-Fi is to be rolled out to all NHS buildings in the UK.
At present many hospitals and practices do not offer any Wi-Fi service at all. Some who do provide Wi-Fi charge patients fairly significant fees by the minute or by the day.
Campaigners for free Wi-Fi argue that Wi-Fi helps patients recover faster, as it enables them to communicate with friends and family, play games or watch videos, or keep up with work. Happier or more relaxed patients may also reduce pressure on staff and help save on some medications.
Free Wi-Fi is one of many ways the NHS has been embracing the power of the internet. More and more NHS resources are available online, such as MyNHS, the NHS online symptoms checker, and with 98.7% of GP practices offering online patient appointment bookings.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “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. 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.”
It is hoped that as well as improving patient experience, the Wi-Fi service could be used to improve services for staff. Alarms or monitors could be used to better alert staff to issues with patients; digital notes or prescription sheets could cut down on errors or loss; and staff could communicate more quickly and easily with co-workers or emergency service personnel.
However, one key factor that will likely delay the rollout is security. The NHS has faced criticism in the past for its data protection breaches, and will have to be careful with how it plans and delivers Wi-Fi connectivity. For patient use, the need for security may not be as high, but if the network is to be used by staff, security will have to be a top priority.
Price will also be a deciding factor. While money has been put aside for the project, some argue that the money could have been better spent, increasing wages or hiring more staff.
While no deadline has been announced for Wi-Fi connectivity to be available, the Government have said they expect the NHS to be ‘digital and paperless’ by 2020.
This news comes weeks after it was announced EE were to provide 4G networking to the emergency services across the country.