Data centre installed at the Western

A NEW data centre has been installed at the city's Western General as part of a health board IT expansion.

As part of a three-year expansion, which will see NHS Lothian hold all its own electronic information, the data centre power and cooling unit was completed by firm RMD.

It is indicative of a shift from paper records to electronic, and having the centre on site means health chiefs won't have to rent data centres elsewhere.

A new computer room at the Craigleith hospital has been created, while the present server space has been expanded.

Iain Robertson, NHS Lothian's head of ehealth operations and infrastructure, said: "This is a major project for NHS Lothian and RMD have supported us throughout.

"The increasing dependence on IT means that an uninterrupted power supply is vital to ensure immediate access to clinical information."

RMD has worked with the organisation for a decade, and has undertaken major projects at the Lothians' other two acute hospitals, the Royal Infirmary and St John's Hospital in Livingston.