N3 and Prison Health IT win national awards

Taken from the Connecting For Health Newsroom report, with thanks.

N3 took the plaudits in the 'Central e-Government excellence: Team' category for collaborative working and connecting healthcare, presented by Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude. Prison Health IT were also nominated in this category and took second prize, receiving a 'Highly Commended' accolade.

N3 earned its award for migrating much of the N3 network to newer, faster and lower-cost technologies over the past year, resulting in more than a £20 million reduction in the cost of N3.

N3 Programme Head Len Chard said: "Of all the awards N3 has received this one pleases me most for two reasons. Firstly this is the third year in a row we have won an e-Gov, which is something of an achievement in itself.

"Secondly whereas all the other awards have been for an individual N3 product or service this one is for the team, many of whom who have been with N3 since the beginning and whose dedication, loyalty, expertise and team working have absolutely made N3 the success it undoubtedly is."

Programme Director Martin Dennys added: "I want to give my congratulations for the fantastic win for N3. This is a fantastic achievement, as making the finalist list alone is worth noting, but being picked by the judging panel as the winner is brilliant.

"The e-Government awards are one of the most prestigious public sector technology awards that it is possible to be nominated for. It was a real privilege to collect the award on behalf of the team – and was only possible due to the team effort."

Prison Health IT won a 'Highly Commended' trophy for its work to date in deploying the TPP SystmOne Prison IT system to prisons across England.

"It's great to be recognised, particularly as we were up against incredibly stiff competition from across the whole of the public sector," said Prison Health IT Programme Director Mary Barber.

"We're very proud of the close and collaborative way we've been working with other organisations to roll-out a national clinical IT system to prisons across England, including the Department of Health, the National Offender Management Service, the SHAs and PCTs and our suppliers."