The NHS 10 Year Health Plan is clear on direction. Care must move out of hospitals, become more integrated across services, and increasingly be delivered in community and neighbourhood settings. Digital plays a central role in making that shift possible, particularly for clinicians and integrated care teams who no longer work from a single site, desk or network.
The plan reinforces that information governance (IG), patient confidentiality and cyber security remain fundamental to how care is delivered, regardless of where that care takes place. For IT and infrastructure teams across the NHS and public services, turning this plan into day-to-day reality is complex and demanding.
Teams on the ground need fast, consistent access to records, imaging and collaboration tools wherever care is delivered, but organisations must meet UK GDPR, DSPT and NHS cyber standards, often across estates that include legacy systems, ageing networks and mixed device estates.
Whether it’s a community nurse visiting a patient at home, a therapist working across a local authority hub, or an on call clinician reviewing imaging out of hours, mobile access is no longer a “nice to have”. It has become the operational backbone of modern care delivery.
Policy ambition meets operational reality
On the ground, NHS IT teams operate in complex and varied environments.
- Most estates include a mix of:
- Legacy clinical systems sitting alongside more modern platforms
- Variable network quality across hospital, community and partner sites
- Different levels of device maturity between settings and teams
- Hybrid cloud and on-premise infrastructure that hasn’t evolved evenly
When care remained largely hospital-centred, many of these issues were manageable. Once clinicians began working routinely across settings, these weaknesses have become visible very quickly. Workarounds start to appear when access becomes unreliable, and that’s exactly where IG risk enters the picture.
It’s not uncommon for organisations to acknowledge that they are still building the foundational digital capability required to support national goals at scale. NHS leaders themselves have recognised the difficulty of delivering modern, digital care while operating in environments not fully equipped to support it.
Mobile clinical access exposes these gaps. It doesn’t create them.
Three foundations for safe mobile clinical access
Delivering mobile access without compromising IG requires more than policy or training. It relies on architectural choices that shape how access works every day.
Secure connectivity for teams
Controlled remote access
Cloud decisions that reduce risk
1. Secure connectivity for teams everywhere
Community care, virtual wards and oncall working all depend on predictable, trusted, always on connectivity. If access is slow or unreliable, teams will lose confidence, and workarounds take hold.
Foundational connectivity needs to support:
- Consistent performance across NHS and partner locations
- Trusted, accredited networks that meet NHS standards
- Collaboration tools that work reliably across sites
Connectivity also underpins how teams communicate and coordinate care in real time. As they become more distributed, secure collaboration tools enable teams to consult colleagues, share context and make decisions across organisational boundaries, without introducing additional IG risk. Communications platforms need to perform reliably wherever care is delivered and operate within the same secure network and governance frameworks as clinical systems.
HSCN connectivity remains central here, providing a secure backbone between organisations and systems. On top of that, unified communications and modern workplace services enable teams to move seamlessly between settings without losing access, security or context.
Reliable connectivity isn’t about speed alone. It’s about creating an environment teams trust to work wherever care takes them.
2. Controlled, identity-led remote access
Mobile access is no longer simply about connecting a laptop to the network. It involves access from nonstandard locations, mixed devices and varying levels of clinical sensitivity.
NHS IT teams are rightly cautious about this. Access must be explicitly controlled, not broadly opened.
Secure remote access services allow organisations to:
- Enforce identity-led access based on role and context
- Limit exposure of internal systems
- Apply consistent security policies regardless of location
- Maintain visibility and control over who can access what, and when
This approach supports mobile working while reducing the pressure to compromise on governance. It also avoids the complexity and risk that come with unmanaged remote access methods.
3. Cloud decisions that reduce risk rather than move it
For most NHS organisations, cloud is no longer new, but it is rarely straightforward. Hybrid estates are now the norm, with different workloads moving at different speeds depending on clinical risk, data sensitivity, and operational dependency.
The risk with cloud adoption is assuming it automatically improves security. In reality, cloud can either reduce risk or simply relocate it, depending on how identity, access, networking, monitoring and governance are designed across the whole estate.
Key considerations include:
- Data location and sovereignty
- Integration with existing NHS networks and legacy systems
- Visibility and monitoring across hybrid and multi-cloud environments
- How users securely access cloud-hosted clinical and operational systems
When designed properly, the right cloud model for the workload can reduce operational risk, improve resilience and better support mobile working. When rushed, poorly governed or loosely integrated, cloud can increase complexity and introduce new IG exposure.
The right approach focuses on deciding which workloads make sense in the cloud, supported by strong integration, managed security, and clear accountability across hybrid environments.
Information governance as an architectural outcome
One of the most common misconceptions is that IG sits primarily in policies, training and audits. These are important, but they are not where governance is lived day to day.
In mobile-by-default care, information governance is shaped by:
- Network design
- Access architecture
- Identity management
- Logging and monitoring
When access is designed well, governance becomes part of how care is delivered rather than something enforced after the fact.
Cyber security plays a critical role here. Controls need to be embedded across networks, access and cloud environments long before policies are put to the test by real-world incidents.
The value of a trusted delivery partner
Very few NHS organisations struggle with mobile access because they lack commitment or understanding. The challenge is the complexity across layers, often owned by different internal teams.
Mobile clinical access spans:
- Networks and connectivity
- Secure remote access
- Cloud platforms
- Cyber security and IG requirements
Fragmented delivery across these layers increases risk, delays and operational friction. Progress slows not because of intent, but because change becomes hard to coordinate safely.
This is where a trusted delivery partner makes the difference.
Redcentric has spent more than 25 years supporting NHS and public sector organisations across connectivity, cloud, communications and cyber security. We understand how change is delivered in real NHS environments, not just how technology works in isolation.
We design infrastructure with information governance in mind from the start, helping organisations build mobile access that stands up to operational reality and regulatory scrutiny.
If you’re reviewing how your organisation supports mobile working as part of neighbourhood care, virtual wards or community services, speak to Redcentric. Our specialists can help you assess where your foundations are strong, where risk sits, and how to move forward safely.
Connecting the Future of Health and Care
