Cloud Transformation for Healthcare

The background

NHS organisations are required to evaluate public cloud services ahead of other hosting alternatives, as per the government's Cloud First policy and Plan for Digital Health and Social Care paper, released June 2022.

The purpose of the NHS Cloud strategy is to facilitate better citizen outcomes through the utilisation of cloud technologies and services. Cloud enables healthcare organisations to:

• Digitise core processes, drive operational efficiencies, and realise cost savings

• Connect distributed systems, data, and users through technology

• Facilitate greater collaboration between healthcare providers

• Leverage data as a strategic priority

• Create a foundation for innovation

The challenge

All public sector organisations, including the NHS, are required to migrate services and infrastructure to cloud in order to realise operational efficiencies and cost savings. However, transitioning away from the legacy technologies and systems that under pin critical, public facing services can be a daunting prospect. It requires specialist skills across multiple disciplines, including networking, cloud, and security, most of which are in short supply.

Furthermore, the formation of Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) means healthcare organisations are now required to merge into formal 'partnerships' with other providers. While this should allow for a more coordinated, streamlined experience for UK citizens, consolidating multiple IT estates and transformation strategies can be disruptive and time consuming.

These challenges can create a resistance to change that deters or delays IT teams from taking the first steps towards cloud.

The first steps

Crown Hosting provides secure, scalable, and cost effective data centre facilities. It is a partnership between the Cabinet Office and Ark Data Centres that allows healthcare organisations to transition away from legacy infrastructure without undertaking a large scale public cloud migration. By consolidating all on-premise infrastructure into a single environment, healthcare providers are able to take the first step on their digital transformation journey without incurring the cost or risks associated with a direct move to public cloud.

The solution

Crown Hosting can be leveraged as an interim solution that runs alongside an organisation's longer term public cloud migration strategy. It facilitates a phased approach whereby services and applications can be transitioned to cloud, or replaced with SaaS alternatives, at a pace that suits the business. Furthermore, Crown Hosting's 30-day notice period means that your hardware can then be decommissioned quickly and without fuss.

Cloud Gateway's industry leading, cloud native SASE solution allows healthcare providers to begin consuming services from one or any cloud provider within minutes. Organisations can choose the network and security capabilities they need to seamlessly connect their entire ecosystem, including on-premise and cloud environments, remote users, and public sector networks.

There is no longer a requirement to provision expensive connectivity infrastructure based on projected future consumption. Cloud Gateway's highly scalable bandwidth and security options are delivered quickly and without disruption to services or users.