The NHS.net Connect roadmap has been published, outlining plans for functionality, identity and security, Copilot adoption, Intune enhancements and more for 2025 and beyond.
For 2025, the functionality strategy timeline focuses-in on Microsoft Fabric and Copilot, voice and face recognition, Unite, Intune device migration capabilities, attack simulation, unattended RPA, machine learning-based retention, rules-based automatic retention, and Viva connections – local organisation deployment. Long-term developments include government roam and Wi-Fi, records management, Office 365 enhanced backups/retention capabilities, and power pages.
Plans for 2025 around identity and security include MDI Microsoft Defender for identity, Entra ID workload protection, Office 365 Cloud Apps Security, external MFA, and insider risk management. Digital Staff passports, access reviews, entitlement management, privileged access management, and verifiable credentials will then be looked at in the longer-term.
A technical release plan points to developments expected for SNOW, iPaaS, CoreView, Viva, and more, leading through the phases of design; build, test and release; EA pilot; Alpha pilot; Beta pilot; and mass migration. The roadmap also covers Copilot and the trajectory toward mass adoption, Intune enhancements, phone system development, Defender XDR, and NHS.net deprecation.
In a Linkedin post, delivery officer Monika Kiernicka referred to the roadmap as a “significant milestone” in the journey toward enhancing connectivity in healthcare and improving patient outcomes in the UK, adding: “With innovative features and a clear vision for the future, NHS.net Connect is set to improve the way healthcare professionals collaborate and share information.”
To view the roadmap, please click here.
Approaches to cyber security from across the NHS
We were joined for a recent HTN Now webinar focusing on sharing best practices around cyber security, by an expert panel including Neill Crump, digital strategy director at The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust; Nasser Arif, cyber security manager at London North West Healthcare NHS Trust and Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; and Martin Knight, privileged access management at Imprivata. The session focused on key considerations for NHS organisations in their approach to cyber security, assessing cyber security maturity, good cyber security practice, the challenges in this area and tips to overcome them.
The European Commission recently published an EU action plan developed to guide hospitals and healthcare providers in increasing their cyber security. Referring to the plan as “an important step in shielding the healthcare sector from cyber threats”, the commission focuses on enhancing threat detection, preparedness and response capabilities of hospitals and health providers.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has outlined plans for the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, noting measures to enhance oversight, regulating the supply chain, and progressing CAF’s basic and enhanced profiles. It first looks to bring more entities under the scope of the regulatory framework, to “better recognise the increasing reliance on digital services and the vulnerabilities posed by supply chains” including interconnectedness, which it states can have “cascading effects on our essential services”. Managed service providers offering core IT services will also be brought into the scope, whilst the government is similarly looking to enable regulators to designate “critical suppliers” and set stronger duties for the supply chain.
