Single-sign on specialist, Imprivata, is now working with 35 acute NHS trusts, enabling all desktop applications to be accessed using just one set of log-in details through its OneSign application.
Onesign is being deployed across the NHS to enable clinicians to access vital patient information as quickly, easily and securely as possible. It ensures that the chosen password meets trust security policies, and aims to reduce the need for IT helpdesk calls relating to forgotten passwords.
A spokesperson told E-Health Insider: “Making sure that patient data is secure comes under the remit of the Connecting for Health program, but it is also an issue for all of the NHS’ trusts individually – each one will have a security policy in place that guards against password sharing, log-ins being written down or credentials that are not secure enough being used.
“With both the health minister Ben Bradshaw and the House of Lords supporting potential punishments for senior NHS trust officials if patient data is accessed without authorisation, proving that users are who they say who they are becomes critical. Imprivata OneSign ensures that Trusts can support their security policies over passwords, roll-out strong authentication, and eliminate sharing of log-in details.”
As well as supporting National Programme for IT requirements, the application can be configured to interface with any system in use by trust staff. It can also easily generate reports on user access, providing full audit data when required.
Omar Hussain, CEO at Imprivata, said: “We are seeing strong demand for the OneSign appliance in the NHS because it solves major problems for trusts around password management and enforcing security policy.
“OneSign continues to be the most popular solution on the market for these organisations because it is easily implemented and delivers a real return on investment. Imprivata understands and supports real-life workflow requirements of our hundreds of healthcare customers around the globe.”
University Hospital of North Staffordshire Trust is one of the latest organisations that has chosen Imprivata OneSign. The Trust has over 3,500 staff that use IT resources as part of their day-to-day activities.
“Around 60 per cent of calls to our help-desk were related to password reset requests,” said Matthew Eaves, desktop manager, University Hospital of North Staffordshire Trust.
“Using OneSign, we’ll remove these problems as well as enabling increased productivity for both clinical and non-clinical staff. Imprivata OneSign was a proven solution for the issues that we were facing, and the level of support that we received during our pilot project convinced us that we made the right choice.”
Of the 35 contracts to date, 20 have been signed over the last 12 months, including Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and Norfolk and Norwich University Healthcare NHS Trust.
Hussain added: “Access to information is becoming a more critical issue at both the local Trust level as well as for the NHS in general. Additionally, being able to trace what activities are being carried out and the accounts linked to those access requests is critical.
“At the heart of this is applying a security policy that works for both the trust and for employees. Imprivata OneSign can deliver these benefits within a package that is easy to deploy, simple to manage, and cost-effective.”
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