Dear all,
I promised that I would summarise the main issues that were raised following this posting. Thank you to all who responded - what a can of worms this one is!
The frustration and anger of some of the replies was very clear and many had some horrendous tales about the problems that web blocking has caused for you. The problem seems to be that the degree of security used depends upon each Trust's individual IT policies, there is no national standard. This is why some Trusts have had their WebOpacs blocked while others can access Facebook. The range of variation is far too wide and causes problems in providing services and dealing with users who are very frustrated.
There are two main things that need to be said:
1)All IT departments will remove blocks if you ask them
2) There is apparently a national survey being conducted in 2008 by NLH with the Technical Design Authority.
I hope that this helps - if anyone wants any further information or support, please let me know.
Best wishes
John
---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 12:31:09 +0000
>From: "Blenkinsopp John (North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust)" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: NHS - blocking web sites
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>Dear all,
>
>I've recently been looking at the issue of web blocking and general censored use of the internet/email by the NHS. We have become very conscious of the fact that a lot of NHS Trusts are blocking core medical sites - for example, in my Trust, many NLH and University sites are blocked by Websense software, a 'Net Nanny system. At one of the courses I attended recently we found that in some NHS Trusts, all blogs are banned because of fears of virus, all internet emails (other than NHSNet) are banned for the same reason and general emails are blocked if they contain words such as 'bl**dy' (as in 'the wound was bl**dy'). At first, I thought that a lot of the people on the courses were exagerating, but this is actually the case.
>
>I would like to compile more examples of these - to raise awareness inside and outside the NHS. For instance, there was much talk last week at the NICE conference about blogs being the future of the NHS communication/information, if this is the case, why are some areas of the NHS banning them and why does this vary from Trust to Trust?
>
>It would be really interesting to hear the views of list members - good and bad. Feel free to contact me directly if that is easier.
>
>I will summarise the findings and copy them to the NLH. If I get enough, I will summarise them for Health Information on the Internet.
>
>Many thanks
>
>John
>
>John Blenkinsopp
>Clinical Effectiveness Advisor
>North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust
>Stockton on Tees
>TS19 7EP
>[log in to unmask]
>
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