BT wins IP telephony contract for Birmingham PCT

BT will be hosting the IP telephony services for the Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust across the NHS national broadband network as part of the National Programme for Information Technology.

The NHS national broadband network (N3) will manage the manage the IP infrastructure for three sites. It is hoped that this will reduce administration costs, and allow the trust to focus its resources on service improvements.

The contract will cover 280 IP telephony handsets which will be provided by network solution firm Cisco. This will remove the need for on-site voice switches and equipment.

Connecting via the N3 network will allow free on net calls and reduced tariff mobile calls.

The IP infrastructure will run across the Birmingham and Solihull Community of Interest Network, which is already used in medical centres and doctor’s surgeries in the area which allows information to be shared instantly across the various medical sites.