Introduction

As the NHS continues to adopt, deploy, and rely on more sophisticated digital health services to support the delivery of care, it is critical to ensure the appropriate network infrastructure and connectivity services are in place to support them. NHS organisations will need to access appropriately sized and reliable network connectivity infrastructure to ensure the digitisation of health services can progress.

However, there are NHS sites that are located in remote or rural locations, or in areas of poor network provision, that may struggle to access the connectivity they require from the existing or planned broadband infrastructure, either for their primary connectivity or for backup connections for resilience.

In addition to a lack of suitable connectivity being available, there may be other factors preventing their take up of a fixed wired service at a location, such as the cost of installation. For some sites and use cases it may be appropriate to utilise a fixed wireless connection to provide appropriate connectivity to a site. This guidance aims to help you understand potential wireless technologies that could fulfil this requirement.