Ground Breaking Approach to Data Centre Rationalisation Unlocks Shared Services for 22 Local Health Boards

Introduction
The challenges of working with multiple databases within any organisation are well documented. In the sensitive and data rich environment of the NHS, handling, managing and accessing multiple databases is a regular activity that drives the business forward. However, as databases organically grow and the demands placed upon them increase, it is apparent that the supporting infrastructure must continue to exceed demand to maintain service delivery.

The Client
Headquartered in Pontypool, the NHS Wales Business Services Centre (BSC) is part of Powys Local Health Board and provides “shared services” to support 22 Local Health Boards (LHBs) and other clients across NHS Wales in delivering services. It operates across 4 locations.

The Challenge
Delivery of services through NHS Wales BSC is underpinned by the National Health Application & Infrastructure Services (NHAIS) system, which is implemented across 89 Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities.

The system provides mission critical data such as patient registration and demographic details associated with NHS products and services.

The BSC in Wales inherited five databases accessed by over 1200 staff and hosted on 6 stand alone HP9000 D class servers spread across Mold, Swansea, Pontypool and Cardiff. It quickly became apparent that there was a need to consolidate the NHAIS application and build in improved resilience.

Quality assurance is paramount when it comes to delivering the NHAIS system and with a focus on future proofing, the brief also acknowledged a need for the solution to be flexible and resilient in hosting new services well into the future.

Finally, with data security and business continuity firmly positioned on the boardroom table, the IT team recognised a need to move away from tape backup.

The Solution
CSA Waverley designed a two site solution that rationalised six databases across two new data centres located at Swansea and Pontypool. Each site uses three HP Integrity Blade servers with a further development server located in Cardiff.

The Blade and EVA infrastructure has been designed to facilitate backup functionality for disc-to-disc and site-to-site replication to improve business continuity and Disaster Recovery.

Benefits
“We have consolidated our data centre estate by 50% and reduced our server footprint by 83%, with inherent savings in power of 30%, cooling 30% and a 60% reduction in maintenance costs. We have dramatically reduced our operational ICT overhead as a result and now have spare capacity for improved Disaster Recovery,” said Andrew MacBean, Regional IM&T Manager at Wales BSC.

“Our team has recognised a step change in performance. Our processing throughput has improved by 600%. Put simply, jobs get done at a much faster rate and we have been able to reallocate our time towards more strategic developments,” he continues.

“We have unlocked capability to support emerging technical solutions and run multiple instances of the NHAIS application. Our operations have become future proofed.

“With site-to-site replication we have greater resilience and security. If one site goes down we can transfer to another very quickly to maintain business continuity. Backup is now over 400% quicker and issues associated with trucking critical and sensitive tape based data are long gone thanks to remote site disc-to-disc backup.

“The BSC’s Disaster Recovery has become much smarter. We have improved confidence thanks to the capability to test and run from one single site in the event of a disaster. Previously we couldn’t do that.

“In terms of patient service delivery, this latest development has enabled staff across 22 Local Health Boards shared access to new functionality through the patient demographic service.

“Access to this central spine means medical professionals can provide a more efficient service. Fundamentally, without this access we simply couldn’t meet aspirations for day to day business.

“CSA Waverley has over 20 years of NHAIS experience, the team knows the application better than we do. Its consultancy, on-site maintenance and support have been invaluable.

“Many NHS organisations are wrestling with multiple databases but we are the first to break new ground in adopting this type of solution.

“There have been a number of key learnings but this solution could now be used as a model for roll-out throughout the NHS.”