NHS Software Licensing Enterprise Agreement for England
Microsoft and NHS Connecting for Health have renewed their initial Enterprise Agreement signed in 2004 for a further three years. The revised agreement provides IT desktop capabilities for over 800,000 users over the lifetime of the agreement, and includes both anti-virus technology and a new Microsoft operating system.
A further innovation is Microsoft’s investment of £40m in a Common User Interface to make technology more user-friendly for NHS staff, and safeguard patients by reducing medication-related errors at the same time.
Both parties agree that technology has a vital role to play in delivering modern healthcare improvements in the UK. This new arrangement will deliver added benefits for all NHS employees with access to the latest Microsoft software. The net result will enable better productivity and improved patient safety through the NHS, ultimately benefiting patients by augmenting quality of service and care currently offered by NHS organisations.
What is the NHS Software Licensing Enterprise Agreement?
"Technology enhancement and innovation move at a rapid rate and we need to continue delivering those benefits to staff and patients alike." Dr. Mark Ferrar, Director of Infrastructure, NHS Connecting for Health.
The NHS in England has negotiated a central licensing arrangement with Microsoft - called an Enterprise Agreement (EA) - which provides software licences to all personal computers (including desktops and laptops) for specific core Microsoft products across all of the NHS organisations in England including Primary Care Groups, Acute, Ambulance, Community and Mental Health Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities, including Special Health Authorities.
The EA has also been extended to include the Department of Health and its relevant authorities, plus all Hospices and Palliative Care Units providing care to patients in England and linked to the Hospices Connect Programme.
"Microsoft is very much looking forward to continuing to support the work being done by NHS CFH to ensure the NHS has the IT infrastructure it needs to deliver a modern, 21st-century health service." John Coulthard, Director of Healthcare for
Microsoft UK.
This is a three year agreement running until May 2010, during which time the Enterprise Agreement also includes the right to use any new versions of the products included in the agreement. Organisations covered by this EA are licensed for immediate use of all the products included.
At the bottom of this page, you can find links to all of the information you need to know to get the most out of your Enterprise Agreement.
Profile yourself against Microsoft's Infrastructure Optimisation model
To reap the full IT benefits from your Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft, we encourage IT Managers to profile their organisation against our Infrastructure Optimisation analysis tool.
Developed from the Gartner model, the Infrastructure Optimisation analysis plots your organisation's level of maturity against various IT capabilities and provides a roadmap and guidance on progressing IT maturity and reducing costs.
What's included as part of the NHS Enterprise Agreement?
For desktops and laptops, the following Microsoft software is included:
Office System 2007 Professional Plus Edition which includes:
- Microsoft Office Access 2007
- Microsoft Office Excel 2007
- Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager
- Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
- Microsoft Office Publisher 2007
- Microsoft Office Word 2007
- Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007
- Microsoft Office 2004 for Apple Macintosh
Office 2007 step-by-step interactive training
Software Assurance on Windows Vista Business - (includes Internet Explorer browser)
Core Client Access Licensing (CAL) which includes:
- Windows Server 2003 CAL
- Exchange 2007 CAL
- Microsoft Office Sharepoint 2007 CAL
- SMS (Systems Management Server) 2003 CAL
N.B Server licences are not included as part of this agreement and are required to be purchased separately.
SQL 2005 CAL is also included.
The above licences enable you to have network access to a server running the equivalent server licence version of these products.
Next steps
- Contact your SHA or your regional reseller to find out more about your Trust's entitlement to each of the above licences. Find all contact details here.
- Subscribe to the NHS Resource Centre e-newsletter to receive ongoing information about the Enterprise Agreement.
- You can also contact your regional Microsoft account manager if you have any queries about you eligibility for any of the above licences included within the agreement as per the details below:
East Midlands, West Midlands and Wales: Tim Lavers on 0118 909 7898 or email i-timl@microsoft.com
North East, North West and Yorkshire & Humberside: Steve Connell on 0118 909 7831 or email v-stecon@microsoft.com
South and London: Sunil Patnaik on 0118 909 7878 or email v-sunip@microsoft.com
Your NHS EA: Access to all the information you need to know