The NHS stands as the first national system to provide free healthcare to all citizens based on citizenship rather than payment or insurance. Yet, behind its ability to deliver life-saving care lies an overburdened digital and IT infrastructure. It’s CIOs, CTOs, IT Directors, and Digital Transformation leaders are facing unprecedented challenges:
Stretched teams
Escalating cyber threats
Evolving compliance frameworks
The pressure to deliver on ambitious digital transformation agendas
NHS IT leaders are being asked to balance two opposing demands: to keep the lights on securely, and reimagine the digital future of healthcare. Without external support, that balance is almost impossible to sustain.
NHS IT teams, post-COVID-19, have been in a constant battle between people power and day-to-day systems. In an environment that demands them to operate as efficiently as possible, IT must constantly stay on top of evolving regulations and manage heavy workloads. As a result, they are often prevented from doing what they do best: supporting clinical priorities and driving innovation that improves patient outcomes.
The challenge: Stretched resources and growing risks
Across the NHS, digital leaders are striving to modernise services while battling the daily reality of under-resourced IT teams. This has been a problem for decades. For example, the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) resulted in a £10bn loss and failure back in 2011, largely due to a lack of stakeholder engagement, technical difficulties, and cost overruns.
The ambition is clear: streamlined digital workflows, secure access to patient data, and integrated platforms that enable clinicians to deliver better care.
But in practice, operational demands are consuming the very capacity needed to innovate. Too often, IT departments find themselves in a reactive cycle of patching, firefighting, and plugging security gaps rather than building the future.
High workloads, low capacity: NHS IT departments are understaffed and overstretched, spending valuable time on patching, system updates, and end-user support instead of driving transformation.
24/7 security demands: Cyber security threats are relentless. Protecting patient data and maintaining compliance with DSPT, Cyber Essentials Plus, and NIS2 requires round-the-clock vigilance. This is often an impossible task for small, reactive teams.
Shifting roles and responsibilities: With digital initiatives like Electronic Patient Records (EPR), remote diagnostics, and integrated care platforms reshaping care delivery, NHS IT teams are under pressure to adapt, retrain, and cover newly emerging areas of risk.
Burnout and stalled innovation: The net result of the challenges combined is reactive firefighting. IT teams are drained, critical projects stall, and transformation goals risk slipping out of reach.
Xavier said:
We consistently see NHS digital projects stall, not because of a lack of vision, but because overstretched teams with evolving workflows simply don’t have the bandwidth. Freeing them from day-to-day firefighting is the only way transformation can move at pace.
The solution: Managed services that take the pressure off
NHS IT leaders don’t need reminding that transformation isn’t just about strategy - it’s about capacity. The reality is that no matter how strong the vision, progress will always be limited if teams are tied up with day-to-day operations. What’s needed is a partner who can absorb the operational load, bring deep technical expertise, and ensure resilience at scale.
IT teams that are constantly stressed and burdened with historical problems need help. Whether it’s regular policy updates to keep processes in line with changing compliance and regulatory demands or keeping networks secure across multiple sites, NHS IT leaders are facing many problems, with very few answers.
At Nasstar, we provide a suite of managed IT and security services designed specifically to ease pressure on NHS organisations. By working with us, trusts can transfer routine operations and cyber security vigilance to our specialists, while retaining focus on innovation, clinical priorities, and patient outcomes.
Here’s how we help:
24/7 support: Round-the-clock incident response and patch management keep systems secure and reliable, reducing the burden on internal teams.
Proactive monitoring and automated updates: We don’t just wait for problems to arise - we prevent them. Continuous monitoring and automated maintenance stop outages before they impact clinical services.
Secure, resilient connectivity: Our SASE and SD-WAN solutions ensure secure, seamless access across hospitals, community settings, and remote sites, supporting integrated care models and remote diagnostics.
Advanced cyber security management: From Zero Trust frameworks to threat detection and compliance reporting, we safeguard critical patient data against evolving threats.
Scalable cloud and network services: Flexible infrastructure allows NHS organisations to adapt quickly to change while minimising operational overhead.
SASE solutions
Healthcare organisations are adopting more multi-cloud and application services while enabling hybrid working practices that allow their staff and clinicians to improve patient care. Traditional network security cannot provide the scalable, secure access needed for these distributed users and apps, resulting in increased complexity, inconsistent security policies, limited visibility, and a higher risk of data breaches.
SASE is the solution to this, providing a cohesive, cloud-native security framework that combines networking and security functions to provide secure and seamless access to applications and data, irrespective of user location or device. SASE builds the foundations of a more adaptable, proactive security approach to these new risks and growing compliance requirements.
Pad added:
Nasstar’s Managed SASE service simplifies deployment, ensures consistent security policy enforcement and posture, provides compliance reporting, and delivers continuous optimisation and evolution - secure anywhere access to multi cloud data and applications - without requiring deep in-house security and networking expertise.
Real-world impact in the NHS
Nasstar’s capabilities aren’t theoretical. We’ve delivered measurable results across NHS trusts and healthcare organisations.
Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear (CNTW) NHS Foundation Trust
During the COVID-19 pandemic, CNTW turned to Nasstar to enable remote patient engagement. We deployed the OneConsultation platform, supporting over 52,000 secure virtual appointments in just over a year.
Rollouts that would usually take months were live in just two weeks, alleviating strain on internal IT teams and enabling clinicians to continue delivering vital care.
University Hospitals of North Midlands (UHNM) NHS Trust
We enhanced communications and network infrastructure for the UHNM NHS Trust, adding 350 new Wi-Fi access points to improve connectivity for both staff and patients. This proactive expansion reduced service bottlenecks and freed up IT staff from dealing with daily connectivity firefighting.
Yeovil NHS Foundation Trust
To strengthen interoperability, Nasstar implemented secure file transfer between Somerset’s two major hospitals in the Yeovil NHS Foundation Trust. This streamlined data sharing, cut delays in clinical workflows, and reduced the pressure on internal teams to maintain stopgap solutions.
South West London & St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust (SWLSTG)
SWLSTG demonstrates Nasstar’s expertise in supporting trusts with sensitive environments like mental health, where security and service continuity are paramount. We deployed an enterprise-grade solution with flexible calling options and modern capabilities that could support the needs of thousands of users, including hybrid workers.
The benefits: Space to innovate, time to care
For NHS trusts, the benefits of upgrading secure networks and embracing digital transformation go far beyond operational efficiencies. They create an environment where technology actively enables better care, stronger resilience, and a sustainable future for the health service.
Resilient, connected care environments
Modern, secure networks ensure clinicians have uninterrupted access to the tools and data they need - whether at the bedside, in community clinics, or through remote services. This resilience reduces downtime, protects patient safety, and supports more joined-up care delivery.
Improved staff experience and retention
By removing the constant pressure of outages, manual patching, and firefighting, IT teams can focus on higher-value projects. This shift helps reduce burnout, retain talent, and make digital roles within the NHS more rewarding.
Enhanced patient trust and safety
Cyber security is now patient safety. By embedding Zero Trust architectures and proactive monitoring, NHS organisations can safeguard sensitive data, maintain compliance, and reinforce public confidence in digital healthcare services.
Capacity for transformation
When the operational burden is lifted, NHS leaders can redirect resources into innovation projects, from EPR rollouts to remote diagnostics and integrated care platforms. These initiatives are what ultimately drive better patient outcomes and more efficient use of NHS resources.
Long-term sustainability
Investing in scalable infrastructure today means the NHS can adapt quickly to future challenges, whether that’s supporting new digital tools, meeting changing compliance requirements, or responding to unforeseen crises.
Digital transformation in the NHS isn’t just about technology. It’s about giving staff the time, tools, and resilience they need to keep delivering world-class care in an era of constant change.
Why Nasstar?
We know the NHS environment and the unique challenges it presents. Change in this sector is labour-intensive, requiring stakeholder buy-in across the board. Nasstar acts as a force multiplier for your IT team, taking the pressure off so you can drive meaningful digital transformation without compromising day-to-day operations.
With decades of experience in managed IT and security services for the healthcare industry, Nasstar brings the expertise, technology, and resilience NHS organisations need to deliver secure, connected, and innovative healthcare.
HSCN-accredited expert / Stage 2 HSCN compliance
Nasstar is fully accredited to design, deploy and manage HSCN network services for health and care organisations. We achieved Stage 2 compliance for HSCN, enabling live deployments that satisfy NHS Digital’s requirements.
Procurement & public sector frameworks
We operate on NHS-relevant frameworks (e.g. RM6116, RM3825 for HSCN access) and are a G-Cloud accredited supplier, shortening the procurement path for NHS trusts.
ISO & quality & compliance certifications
In our cloud services, we maintain ISO 27001, ISO 20000, ISO 9001, and ISO 14001 accreditations, coupled with PCI-DSS where applicable, ensuring robust processes, security, and governance.
Get in touch
The NHS cannot afford for IT teams to remain stuck in reactive firefighting. Patients, clinicians, and communities need the benefits of digital innovation, and IT leaders need the capacity to deliver it.
By offloading the operational burden to experienced service providers, NHS organisations can focus on strategic priorities that improve patient outcomes and strengthen the future of healthcare.
