The right Health and Social Care Network (HSCN) connectivity partner can make your network more resilient, cut downtime, support growth and keep critical health and care sites connected when issues arise. It’s worth choosing carefully, as you’ll work with them for the whole contract.
This guide explains what HSCN is, who needs it, how to connenct and what to look for in a provider and how combining HSCN with technologies such as SD-WAN and SASE can help build a resilient, secure and adaptable network for the years ahead.
What is HSCN?
HSCN is a data network that lets NHS and social care organisations in England access and share electronic information reliably, flexibly and efficiently. It replaced the older N3 network, and NHS England describes it as offering faster, cheaper and more reliable network services, with better capacity and easier access to clinical systems.
HSCN works as an open marketplace rather than a single national contract. You buy your connection from an approved Consumer Network Service Provider (CN-SP), and a set of national services links every provider's network together so it behaves like one network. According to the HSCN consumer handbook, these central services include a peering exchange that connects all CN-SPs, a Secure Boundary that acts as the internet gateway, a Network Analytics Service for security monitoring and a national DNS service.
This model gives you a real choice. NHS England designed HSCN so organisations can pick the suppliers and network solutions that best meet their needs, and it leaves the supplier and purchasing route up to you. You can read more about our approach on our HSCN connectivity page.
Who needs HSCN?
Every health and social care organisation in England is within scope of HSCN, so it's relevant well beyond hospitals and GP surgeries. If your teams use NHS national services, share records with NHS partners or host applications that NHS organisations rely on, HSCN is likely to be part of your network.
| Organisation | How HSCN typically supports it |
| GP practices and primary care networks | Access to clinical systems, e-prescribing, referrals and shared patient records |
| NHS trusts and hospitals | Connecting sites to clinical applications, imaging and partner organisations |
| Community and mental health services | Giving clinicians access to records at clinics and out in the community |
| Hospices and independent hospitals delivering NHS care | Reaching NHS national services and sharing information with referring teams |
| Care homes and social care providers | Sharing information with GPs, hospitals and local authorities |
| Local authorities | Supporting integrated health and social care services |
| Technology suppliers and partners | Delivering applications and services to NHS organisations over HSCN |
If you're in primary care, you might also find our guides to cloud-based telephony for GP practices and what's behind GP call pressure useful. For a wider view of how we support the sector, visit our healthcare IT services and local government IT services pages.
Is HSCN secure? Understanding a private network
NHS England is clear that HSCN shouldn't be treated as a secure network on its own. Its cyber security guidance explains that the central protections give some security against malware and malicious content, but they don't replace good cyber security practice, so each organisation stays responsible for securing the systems it provides and deciding who can access them.
The same guidance says patient or sensitive data must be encrypted whenever it travels across HSCN. It also confirms HSCN isn't treated as a trusted corporate network for the purposes of the multi-factor authentication policy, so you'll still need strong authentication for your users. The ICO's guidance on encryption is a helpful reference when you're setting this up.
The table below shows how the work is shared between the national HSCN services and your own organisation.
| Area | Provided through HSCN | Looked after by your organisation |
| Connectivity | A private connection from your CN-SP, linked to every other provider through the peering exchange | Choosing the right bandwidth, resilience and number of sites |
| Internet access | The central Secure Boundary gateway for CN-SP internet traffic | Firewalls and security controls across your own estate |
| Monitoring | The national Network Analytics Service | Monitoring your own devices, users and applications |
| Data in transit | Private network paths between connected organisations | Encrypting patient and personal data before it travels |
| Governance | The HSCN Connection Agreement framework | Signing the agreement, naming a senior owner and security contacts, and keeping partners who share your connection bound by the same terms |
| Data and national applications | Access to national services once you're approved | Completing the Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) to use applications such as the e-Referral Service |
If you'd like help with the parts that sit with you, our healthcare cyber security team and DSPT support service can work alongside your IT team. Our CAF and DSPT checklist for NHS leaders and guide to network security are good places to start, and the NCSC's Cyber Assessment Framework gives the wider context.
How to connect to HSCN
Getting connected follows a clear path, and a good provider will guide you through each stage. Here's how it usually works.
- Map out what you need. List your sites, the clinical and business applications your teams use, how many people work remotely or in the community, and how much you expect demand to grow. Our connectivity checklist and guide to network readiness for cloud and hybrid working can help.
- Sign the HSCN Connection Agreement. Every organisation using HSCN completes one, online through the HSCN Portal, using its ODS code. A single agreement covers all your locations and connections, and it replaced the old N3 Information Governance Statement of Compliance.
- Choose a compliant CN-SP. NHS England publishes a list of HSCN suppliers with their compliance status. Suppliers can sell HSCN connectivity once they hold a Stage 2 compliance certificate.
- Pick a buying route. You can buy through recognised public sector frameworks. Our frameworks page shows the routes you can use to buy from us.
- Plan installation and switchover. Agree survey dates, installation and testing for each site, and check your internal LAN and WiFi can make the most of the new connection.
- Keep governance up to date. Review your security contacts, keep partners who share your connection covered by the agreement, and complete your DSPT assessment if you use NHS national applications.
If you're planning a wider refresh at the same time, our guide on how to plan a scalable UK network infrastructure covers the bigger picture.
What to look for in an HSCN provider
Compliance gets a provider onto the list, and the rest of your decision comes down to how well they understand your sites, your services and your plans. These are the questions worth asking before you sign.
| What to check | Why it matters | Questions to ask |
| Compliance status | Only compliant CN-SPs can sell HSCN connectivity | Are you listed by NHS England as ready for live service? |
| Choice of underlying networks | The best carrier for a city hospital may differ from the best option for a rural practice | Can you choose the right access network for each of our sites? |
| Resilience | Clinical systems need to stay available during an outage | What backup connections and failover can you offer? |
| National installation | Multi-site organisations need consistent delivery everywhere | Do you have your own field engineers covering all our locations? |
| Support | Care runs around the clock | Is support available 24/7, 365 days a year? |
| Performance reporting | You'll want evidence your service is delivering | How will you report on performance, and where can we see NHS England's supplier performance data? |
| Wider services | Fewer suppliers means simpler management and one point of contact | Can you also look after our LAN, WiFi, cyber security and voice? |
| Future plans | Your network needs to support cloud, hybrid working and growth | How will HSCN fit with SD-WAN, SASE and our cloud services? |
It's also worth looking at real examples. Our case studies for The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals and Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust show how we've supported healthcare teams, and you'll find more on our case studies page.
How HSCN fits with cloud, SD-WAN and SASE
More clinical and business applications now run in the cloud or over the internet, so your network will often carry HSCN traffic and internet traffic side by side. Planning both together gives your teams a consistent experience, whether they're on a ward, in a clinic or visiting a patient at home.
SD-WAN helps by steering each application over the most suitable path, giving you central control across every site and switching to a backup link automatically if a connection drops. You can read more in our guides to moving from SD-WAN to SASE and choosing between MPLS, SD-WAN and SASE.
SASE brings networking and security together in the cloud, so the same protection follows your users wherever they work. That's especially useful for community nurses, mental health teams and staff who split their time between sites. Our guide to SASE explains how it works.
If you're moving systems to the cloud at the same time, our practical cloud migration guide and article on network observability will help you plan the move and keep performance visible as things change as things change.
How we help you get the most from HSCN
We've worked with the NHS and healthcare organisations for more than 20 years, and we've supported over 600 hospitals, hospices and GP surgeries through HSCN. We were one of the first providers to reach HSCN Stage 2 compliance, and NHS England's supplier list now shows us as ready for live service, the highest level of compliance.
As an independent aggregator, we choose the right underlying network for each of your sites instead of fitting you to a single carrier. That means a city hospital, a rural practice and a community hub can each get the connection that suits them, all managed as one service. Where you need more capacity, our healthcare connectivity options include dedicated gigabit connections on our PureFibre network, with speeds of up to 10Gbps.
We also look after the parts of your network that sit around HSCN, so you can work with one partner instead of several.
- Healthcare networks, including LAN and WiFi for wards, clinics and offices
- Cyber security for healthcare and DSPT support, backed by our ISO 27001 certification
- Healthcare contact centres, GP Voice and our AI receptionist for GP surgeries
- Support for the PSTN switch-off, so your phones and alarms keep working as analogue lines retire
Our certified field engineers cover the whole of the UK, and our technical support team is available 24/7, 365 days a year. You can find out more on our HSCN connectivity page, or read why we were named Mitel Healthcare Partner of the Year.
If you'd like to talk through your HSCN connection, get in touch with our healthcare team and we'll help you find the right setup for your sites.
Frequently asked questions
What does HSCN stand for and what did it replace?
HSCN stands for Health and Social Care Network. It replaced N3 as the data network for NHS and social care organisations in England.
Is HSCN a secure network?
HSCN has central protections, including a Secure Boundary and network analytics, but NHS England says it shouldn't be considered a secure network on its own. You're still responsible for securing your own systems, controlling who can access them, using multi-factor authentication and encrypting patient or sensitive data in transit.
Do we need to encrypt data send over HSCN?
Yes. NHS England's guidance says patient or sensitive data must be encrypted in transit across HSCN.
Do we want to complete the DSPT to connect to HSCN?
You can get HSCN access without a DSPT assessment. You'll need one to use NHS national applications such as the e-Referral Service and the Personal Demographics Service, or if you have access to NHS patient data and systems.
Can care homes and social care providers connect to HSCN?
Yes. All health and social care organisations in England are within scope, so care homes, hospices and other social care providers can connect through a compliant CN-SP.
Can we share our HSCN connection wit?
You can, as long as every organisation using your connection is bound by the same Connection Agreement terms, either by signing it or through an identical legally binding agreement with you.
Who can supply HSCN connectivity?
Only suppliers that have passed NHS England's compliance process can sell HSCN connectivity. We're listed as ready for live service, and our HSCN team can talk you through your options.
