Best practice between HE and the NHS will be identified and shared through a new group set up at the request of the NHS-HE Forum. The group will look at general topics such as how N3, the private NHS network, and JANET can network securely, the use of terminal services, and procedures and policies around all these items,: it will also look at the more particular topic of access directly from NHS desktops, as it has been found that some web facilities are being blocked at some NHS sites.

In response to this last case, the Strategic Health Authority Library Leads IM&T Group has already published a whitelist of URLs which should not be blocked (www.libraryservices.nhs.uk/forlibrarystaff/information/technology.html) and, on behalf of the Working Group, Natalie Lafferty of the University of Dundee has started to list e-learning tools that are valuable for health e-learning. This will be extended with an evaluation of the benefits and risks associated with each one.

Best practice case studies, examples and guidelines will be published on www.nhs-he.org.uk and made available through other channels. The group will be chaired by Mark Blakeman, Director of Informatics at University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust, and met for the first time on 10 February.