Cheshire West and Chester Borough Council

Reciprocal Wi-Fi

Briefly describe the initiative/ project/ service

Seamless multi-agency connectivity allowing health and social care professionals to connect and work from another agency premise as if they were in one of their own organisations buildings.

Current partners sharing connectivity include

Cheshire West and Chester Borough Council
Cheshire East Borough Council
Cheshire and Wirral Partnership

Partners working to establish joint connectivity include

Cheshire Police
Countess of Chester Hospital
East Cheshire NHS
Lancashire and Midland CSU

Why do you think it should win this award?

This is a great example of multi agency ICT teams working together to realise business collaboration. The technology allowed each agency to enforce their own security standards without introducing any risk to one another. Governance and on-going support are both simplified because the solution utilises the technology vendors standards. Once the initial inter-agency configuration is in-place service can be monitored and managed via the existing managed network. Implementation and on-going running costs are minimised as the service utilises the investments each agency has already made in their respective private networks, allowing performance to be monitored and managed via quality of service as the service is delivered over existing private network links, rather than the internet.

Connectivity services are a key foundation enabler. This service therefore is a critical component in support of each partner agency’s digital strategy and flexible and mobile working policies. Both of which are key to delivering the saving and budget challenges facing the whole of the public sector.

What are the key achievements?

Enabler for improved outcomes for service users and patients
Enables improved accuracy and secure sharing of information in cross agency working
Repeatable, scalable approach to inter-agency connectivity
Leverages existing technology investments
Respects each partners security standards
Supports true multi-agency working
Reduces the need for staff to travel