New research has found that almost 65% of NHS Trusts choose not to store any of their data in the private or public cloud. These results came from a freedom of information request sent by cloud and managed services provider ANS Group.
Out of the 142 NHS Trusts that were approached, 86 of them responded. The findings revealed that 63% (54) didn’t store any of their data in the cloud, while the remaining 37% (32) stored some information in the cloud.
Of those that use it, 63% (20) opted for private cloud, while 13% (4) used public cloud and a further 25% (8) used a combination of the two. When asked if they were considering moving any data into the cloud during the next 12 months, the majority (59%) of NHS Trusts asked said they weren’t.
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Andy Barrow, chief technology officer at ANS Group, said: “NHS Trusts are handling and storing an increasing amount of extremely sensitive data each day. Although cloud platforms can offer secure and scalable storage, these findings suggest that some Trusts may still be hesitant to embrace it, and therefore could be missing out.
“Keeping costs low is also a huge priority for the NHS in its current circumstances. Cloud could be a viable option for Trusts to explore since they will only pay for the storage that they use and may not have to invest in costly hardware.
“Any NHS Trusts looking to take advantage of cloud must ensure they have the correct skills, either internally or externally, to navigate the migration and manage their cloud environment. They will also need cloud-ready networks to be in place in order to make the most of this shift.
“Although there are steps to be taken in order to prepare, NHS Trusts looking to streamline and modernise the way they operate could certainly benefit in some way from a bespoke cloud solution. Businesses in all sectors are using the cloud as a facilitator and there is no reason why NHS Trusts can’t do the same.”
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