BT has won NHS contracts worth £36m to create "communities of interest" for five primary care trusts.

BT will create Internet Protocol networks for Kent and Medway Health Informatics Service, North Merseyside Health Informatics Service, Peterborough and Stamford Hosptial NHS Foundation Trust, Sussex Health Informatics Service, and United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust.

The networks will provide voice, data, and video transfer using the national N3 network - the £530m network also built by BT. The N3 network already connects 96.6 per cent of GPs' surgeries, according to the telco.

Lincolnshire Trust programme manager Merrill Hayes said the trust was making significant savings through a digital X-ray system which can transfer X-rays in seconds, rather than the days required to ship film around the county. ®