The Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN) is the secure

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

’s

public service A public service is any Service (economics), service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community. Public services are available to people within a government jurisdiction as provided directly through pub ...

s. More than 6,000 sites are connected by the network. After the tendering process concluded in March 2013, one of the parties launched a legal challenge, which was dropped in February 2014.

History

NHS Scotland NHS Scotland, sometimes styled NHSScotland, is the publicly funded healthcare system in Scotland and one of the four systems that make up the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. It operates 14 territorial NHS boards across Scotland, ...

previously used the N3 national communications network supplied by

British Telecom BT Group plc (trade name, trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is th ...

(BT). The procurement process for a new network began in October 2012. On 21 March 2013, three bidders were announced as having been shortlisted: BT, a partnership of

Cable & Wireless Worldwide Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC (informally Cable & Wireless) was a British multinational telecommunications services company headquartered in Bracknell, United Kingdom. It was formed in 2010 by the split of Cable & Wireless plc into two co ...

with

Virgin Media Business Virgin Media Business Limited is a telecommunications provider specialising in providing services to businesses in the United Kingdom. The company is a subsidiary of Virgin Media, and as of 1 June 2021, parent company of Virgin Media O2, forme ...

, and a partnership of Capita with Updata Infrastructure. After a preferred bidder was selected, BT served

NHS National Services Scotland NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) is a Non Departmental Public Body which provides advice and services to the rest of NHS Scotland. Accountable to the Scottish Government, NSS works at the heart of the health service, providing national str ...

(NSS) with a summons, seeking a re-run of the tendering process. In January 2014 the case was heard at the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh a ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. The court found in favour of NSS, and the following month BT decided not to appeal the decision. NSS announced the award of the contract to Capita-Updata, who had been their preferred bidder. In November 2014 BT and NSS released a statement to indicate the matter was settled. The first phase of the network was to involve the NHS and six

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

. By October 2015 there were 3,200 sites connected to the network. By February 2016, the rollout was 11 months behind schedule. In March 2016, the contract was worth an estimated value of up to £325million over a nine-year period. In 2017, CityFibre were also involved in the connecting sites. In 2020 Capita secured several contract renewals. SWAN connects more than 6,000 sites across Scotland, including every hospital and ambulance station, also GP surgeries, community pharmacies, local councils premesis and schools.

References

External links

* {{Official website Wide area networks NHS Scotland