Leased lines for GP practices, clinics and care

Why connectivity matters in health and care settings

In many practices and clinics, almost every part of the day now runs over the internet. Clinical and practice management systems are hosted in the cloud, appointments are booked online, prescriptions and referrals are sent electronically, and video consultations sit alongside face-to-face appointments. The phone system is often hosted too, and the morning rush on the phone lines coincides with every clinician logging in.

When that connection is shared with other users on the network outside, it is at its slowest exactly when the practice is at its busiest. A leased line takes the shared part out of the equation: the bandwidth is reserved for your building.

Typical things the connection carries in a health or care setting:

• Cloud clinical, practice management and booking systems
• Hosted phone systems and patient call queues
• Video consultations and remote meetings
• Scanned documents, letters and image uploads
• Remote access for clinicians and staff working elsewhere
• CCTV, door entry and building systems
• Patient or visitor Wi-Fi in waiting areas

What BTnet brings to a practice or clinic

• Dedicated and uncontended. BT describes BTnet as fully uncontended, so the morning peak elsewhere does not slow your systems. See contended vs uncontended.
• Symmetrical speeds. Upload matches download, which helps video consultations, document uploads and cloud backup. See symmetrical internet speeds.
• BT's service levels. A 100% availability service level with service credits, on-time delivery credits and a latency commitment on BT's UK core, all under BT's terms. See the BTnet SLA.
• Static IPv4 addresses. Included as standard, for secure remote access and for suppliers that allow-list your address. See static IP addresses on BTnet.
• Unlimited data. BT's help pages say there is no fair usage policy on BTnet.
• Room to grow. Port speeds from 2Mbps to 10Gbps, with Bandwidth Flex to change speed within your bearer.

These are BT's service features and BT's service levels. Our part is helping you choose the right combination and supporting you through ordering and installation.

Health and care settings at a glance

Many of these settings also take card payments. A leased line does not make payments secure by itself: card payment security, including the card industry's PCI DSS standard, is handled through your payments provider and your own network controls.

HSCN and BTnet are different services

Health and care organisations in England often ask about HSCN, the Health and Social Care Network. NHS England describes HSCN as a data network for health and care organisations to access and exchange electronic information; it replaced the older N3 network. Organisations buy HSCN connectivity from a choice of suppliers, and connections come with their own governance and data security standards.

BTnet is BT's dedicated internet access service. It is not HSCN, and this site does not offer HSCN connections or make any claim about NHS approvals or assurance. Some organisations need both: HSCN for the services that require it, and dedicated internet access for everything else, such as cloud apps, video, phones and staff Wi-Fi.

If you are unsure which of your systems need HSCN and which simply need a fast, reliable internet connection, ask your clinical system supplier or commissioning support first, then Contact us about the internet side. We can set out clearly what BTnet does and does not cover.

Calls and video consultations

Calls and video are where patients notice connection problems first. Voice needs little bandwidth but is sensitive to delay and lost packets; video needs much more bandwidth in both directions.

BT says BTnet is optimised for voice traffic, including its Cloud Voice and SIP services, and that it prioritises voice on a low-latency network. BT also sets a latency commitment on its UK core network. With symmetrical bandwidth, a practice can run its phone queue, several video consultations and clinical systems at the same time, provided the line is sized for that combined peak.

Forever Communications also supplies BT Cloud Voice for healthcare, so the line and the phone system can be planned together. Read more in a leased line for VoIP and cloud calling, and use our bandwidth sizing guide to work out how much you need.

Patient data and security layers

UK GDPR treats data concerning health as a special category of personal data, which needs extra care. A dedicated line helps with performance and reliability, but it is still an internet connection: protecting patient data depends on the controls around it, such as your firewall, device security, access controls and the security standards that apply to your organisation.

BTnet can contribute in two ways:

• Static IP addresses support secure VPN access for staff working elsewhere and let suppliers restrict access to your address.
• BTnet Security, available with the Cisco Meraki managed equipment option, adds advanced malware protection, content (URL) filtering, intrusion detection and prevention and regular security patch updates. See BTnet Security.

BT's terms say BT does not guarantee security against unauthorised access, so treat these as layers alongside your own controls, not as a replacement for them. If you already run a firewall managed by your IT provider, BTnet wires only or BTnet with a managed Cisco router may suit better.

Patient and visitor Wi-Fi should sit on its own network. BTnet Wi-Fi on Meraki equipment supports guest Wi-Fi, and under BT's terms you are responsible for how it is used, including setting and securing passwords.

Keeping the practice online

If the connection fails, appointments, prescriptions and calls can all stop at once. BT offers three resilience options for BTnet:

• Failover: a standby BTnet access line that traffic moves to if the primary fails.
• Load balancing: two lines working together, so traffic can flow over the other if one fails, subject to its capacity.
• Back-up: a lower-speed second line that keeps the essentials running.

Which option you can have depends on your configuration, routing protocol, speed and what is available at the site. Start by listing what must keep working in an outage, such as the clinical system and the phone queue, then size the second line for those. Route separation and power at your site are questions for the survey, and BT's terms make you responsible for secure, continuous power, including back-up power.

How Forever Communications helps health and care providers

Forever Communications is an Authorised Supplier for BT, and we supply BTnet to practices, clinics and care providers. We can:

• Map what your connection carries and size speed and bearer for your busiest hour
• Help you choose a BTnet plan that fits the firewall and IT support you already have
• Set out resilience options for the sites that cannot go offline
• Prepare a written quote for one site or several
• Help with survey, wayleave and site preparation questions as your order moves through installation

Pricing depends on the site, speed, plan and options, so ask us for a quote. Contact us with your postcode and a short description of the site.