Rationalisation of systems and resources is necessary to achieve cost effectiveness, best use of available resources and to enable patient information to be shared with appropriate consent and under agreed protocols between NHS organisations across a Board area and across Scotland. This approach is reflected in the updated National IM&T Strategy available on www.show.scot.nhs.uk.An important element of the infrastructure required to provide the right information at the right time in the right place across the whole of Scotland is a robust telecommunications network with the capacity to cope with the millions of clinical messages exchanged each year and increasingly with the sharing of images including real time images such as are used in telemedicine.