NHS Digital has invested more than £10 million on tech devices to assist with remote working over the pandemic.

Data retrieved by the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) and analysed by the Parliament Street think tank has established the number of laptops, tablets, and mobile phones purchased by NHS Digital over the past five years as well as the average cost per device.

Between November 2019 and October 2021 – the height of the pandemic – NHS Digital purchased 7,767 electronic devices for £5,367,245, accounting for 53% of the device spend over the past five years.

More than half of the devices purchased were laptops (56.5%), with mobile phones making up 5,548 of the devices (42.7%). Only 89 tablets were purchased over the five-year period.

The news comes after Advanced, a software supplier for the NHS, was struck by a major ransomware attack earlier this year, compromising patient data, with the effects still being felt three months on.

Commenting on the research, Achi Lewis, Area VP EMEA for Absolute Software, commented: “With the advent of a work-from-anywhere world, large organisations like NHS Digital should be commended for their investment in devices to allow staff and patients to connect no matter where they are.

“Particularly during the pandemic, the adoption of remote technology has become the most favourable working model and the investment in technology for staff will comprise part of the network infrastructure for businesses for many years to come.”

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Remote working has cost UK organisations and businesses thousands of pounds over the last three year, as people were required to take their work home.

The UK Government has invested millions on remote working devices, including laptops, smartphones, and tablets, according to figures from earlier this year.

A Parliament Street FOI request revealed that leading government department The Home Office invested over £44 million since the start of the pandemic on over 65,000 electronic devices.

The Department of Health & Social Care was also found to have spent millions on tens of thousands of remote working devices for hybrid working. The UK public body spent more than £9.4m on 14,605 laptops, iPads, and iPhones

Cybersecurity implications

However, the move to working from home, although necessary for business operations, has created cybersecurity implications, with issues such as lack of training and security protocols potentially putting firms and the public at risk.

Lewis commented: “Alongside devices, it is important that organisations also consider the cybersecurity implications of remote working, ensuring staff have been properly trained to detect and report threats, leveraging automated technology to block attacks, and provide centralised IT teams visibility into suspicious activity on a network.

“Connecting to an organisation’s network, using Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) for example, enables secure access for staff with each connection authorised on a context-based basis as opposed to an ‘all-or-nothing’ approach through legacy VPN systems.

“This provides visibility for IT teams, alerting them to suspicious activity on certain applications or devices and allowing them to shut off, or freeze, compromised devices to prevent further network damage.”

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