BT, which runs the network, has said the centrally managed service will be available from June 2010. Video calls will be free between N3 users, although organisations will need to have appropriate equipment.
Len Chard, NHS Connecting for Health N3 programme manager, said: "Videoconferencing has huge potential to save the NHS money and make it more efficient, both in clinical and business terms.
"The new managed service will take away a lot of the hassle in running and using videoconferencing, making it easier to use and maintain, at the same time as reducing costs."
Chard added that he expects videoconferencing to encourage innovation, for example in the diagnosis of patient scans by groups of experts.
"We have already seen examples of this in a number NHS trusts where videoconferencing is available. The greater take up can only open up more exciting possibilities," he said.
N3, a key component of the NHS National Programme for IT, combines broadband connections and network services to link all NHS sites. Although N3 has been fully delivered across England as well as Scotland, the videoconferencing service will initially only be available in England.
John Abbott, BT's chief executive for N3, said: "In some trusts we are aware that the complexity of running a videoconferencing service has been a barrier to greater usage and the equipment has ended up hardly being used.
"That's where the N3 service has the advantage… by making it easy to set up calls within a trust as well as to other trusts."
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