Scotland gets FairWarning of breaches

Northgate Managed Services has won contract to roll-out its FairWarning privacy surveillance system across Scotland.

The move follows a pilot in NHS Lothian, which Northgate says “resulted in immediate and significant improvements to the protection of almost one million patients’ data in the region.”

James Turnbull, managing director in infrastructure solutions, said: “It has never been so important for organisations in possession of critical information – such as citizen or customer data, intellectual property or trade secrets – to protect it.

“NHS Scotland has moved quickly to update its security protocols and to ensure the proper handling of sensitive and confidential patient information by its staff. I am confident that the solutions provided will only help to reassure patients that any information being held is done so securely.”

Northgate will implement the latest FairWarning privacy surveillance solution to all 14 NHS boards, a significant proportion of which are due to deploy InterSystems’ TrakCare to create a single patient management system for Scotland.

The system works by pulling audit files from different systems to be monitored. Northgate says this enables the identification of users who are engaging in patient record access patterns that are indicative of snooping, password sharing and other suspicious behaviours.

As a result, organisations can take steps to stop data breaches. The company adds that replacing manual review processes with an automated system generates considerable efficiencies and return on investment.

Jackie Stephen, head of eHealth for NHS Borders, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Northgate Managed Services to implement, across Scotland, a data safety solution which has proven to further secure the data and records of patients served by NHS Scotland.

“We treat very seriously the management and security of data. The introduction of a privacy surveillance solution will help us as we strive to ensure compliance with the Data Protection Act and provide assurance to all patients across Scotland that their data is safe and secure.”

The deal is the second big win in Scotland for Northgate this year. In February, the Northern Irish company won a £6.5m contract to deliver a clinical portal service for consortium of NHS boards, based on Carefx’s Fusionfx platform.