N3 (NHS)

N3 is the name of the broadband network being developed by the UK National Health Service (NHS).

The service, which began its roll-out in 2005, is managed by the BT Group on behalf of the NHS. By enabling electronic communication between different elements of the NHS, it will support Choose and Book, the NHS Care Records Service, electronic prescriptions, transfer of patient information and many other initiatives which are a part of the National Programme for IT. The intention is that all NHS care providers will use N3, which will therefore replace the multiplicity of systems used to date by the present NHS communications framework NHSNet (now often referred to as N2).

Connections to N3 are strictly controlled by the Connecting for Health Information Governance group, which specifies the security required and data protocols allowed under its Code of Connection agreements.

Organisations wishing to provide information or applications to their NHS partners over N3 are faced with a choice of applying for their own Code of Connection, which generally requires a considerable investment in time (typically 6 months), effort and infrastructure, or partnering with one of the restricted number of organisations (BT, Cable and Wireless and ioko) able to use their own Code of Connect for these purposes.

Many NHS organisations have now installed separate internet connections due to issues with the speed of N3.