NHS Connection

NHS Pharmacy Connection

NHS Scotland has recently agreed a replacement contract for the Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN). Services under the new contract will be provided by BT.

The new contract will allow for better communication, data sharing and collaboration across more than 6,000 sites, including 94 public sector organisations. Schools, hospitals, GP surgeries, pharmacies, every NHS Board and local government offices will benefit from significantly faster and improved fibre broadband.

As part of the new contract Pharmacies will be getting a new and improved SWAN connection to the NHS network provided by BT.

Installation Process

Your new connection is split into 2 appointments.

1st Appointment – Line Installation

You will be contacted by the ePharmacy Helpdesk to accept a date for your line installation. On the day of the appointment your engineer will install the new line as close to your current SWAN router as possible with the minimal disruption to you.

2nd Appointment – Migration

You will be contacted by ePharmacy Helpdesk to accept your migration date. The week before your appointment you will receive a parcel containing your new BT router and Wi-Fi box. Please keep these in a safe place and make them available to the engineer when requested.

New Wi-Fi

To access your new Wi-Fi you will need new log in details. When the ePharmacy Helpdesk call you with your migration date they will ask to provide them with your pharmacy email address and the trading name of the pharmacy. They will then create a new log in and password for you which will be sent direct to the mailbox provided.

Post Migration

Keep your old SWAN router and Wi-Fi box in a safe place as Capita will arrange for an engineer to collect them at a later date. After the engineer leaves if you are unable to scan prescriptions but you do have internet access then please call your PMR supplier who will be aware of your migration date and ask them to change your computers to the new extended IP range. They will have a record of this as they are sent this in advance.

VOIP Phones

We are in the process of changing all independent Pharmacies current NHS SWAN connection to our new NHS provider, BT(SWAN2).

We have encountered a few issues whereby Pharmacies are being contacted by their own private broadband provider to inform them that they will need to change their phone line to VOIP which also requires a broadband service.

We have had some sites where the VOIP provider has taken over the NHS fibre line, resulting in the Pharmacy being left with no ePharmacy connection. To rectify that situation a new line needs to be ordered from BT and the estimated turnaround time for this is a couple of weeks.

If you are planning on having VOIP phones installed, and you have already had your 1st line appointment or totally migrated over to the new service please can you make your VOIP provider aware that there is already a fibre line in the premises solely for NHS purposes and this should not be touched and they must install a completely separate line for the VOIP phones.