NHS staff will be able to surf the net in a £5,000 Internet cafe set up at Oxford's Churchill Hospital.
Four computers have been installed in the Headington hospital's main reception foyer, so staff can log on to the world wide web and send e-mails during their breaks.
The cafe was launched by ORH chief executive David Highton, pictured above with radiotherapy specialist nurse Sian Evans and staff nurse Jacqui Warden with one of the new computers.
John Skinner, assistant director of information and communications technology, said: "We want to improve the working environment and ensure all our staff can benefit from the wealth of information, news and views held on the trust's Intranet site and on the web." The cafe is a pilot project. Others may later be set up at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, the Radcliffe Infirmary and The Horton, Banbury.
Patients will soon have access to the Internet via bedside computers.
More than 107 have already been installed at the Churchill, and there are another 97 at the JR.
The project, which includes a phone and television for every patient, is due to go online at the Horton at the end of April.
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