The NHS IT Security Specialists
University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Trust implements Single Sign-On with fast user switching using Imprivata OneSign
Download this Case Study as a PDF »
University Hospital South Manchester NHS Trust (UHSM) is a major Acute Teaching Hospital Trust providing services for adults and children at Wythenshawe Hospital and Withington Community Hospital.
Recognised as a centre of clinical excellence, it provides district general hospital services and specialist tertiary services to patients across the North West and beyond.
In its drive to increase efficiency, the Trust had recognised that the speed at which clinical staff could view patient data was being hampered by the requirement for users to log in and out of sessions whilst tending to patients.
Ray Burdge IT Infrastructure Manager at UHSM said “Our ultimate goal is that our users benefit from the fastest possible access to clinical applications, and using Imprivata OneSign will help us achieve this.”
The Business Challenge
With 5200 staff and numerous applications requiring password access the Trust had faced similar problems to most large scale organisations. Staff struggled to remember multiple passwords, faced login and logout issues and were occasionally locked out of systems and unable to do their work. The resultant frequent calls to the helpdesk for password resets contributed to increasing IT costs and resource requirements.
Ray Burdge commented “In certain areas our approach to providing healthcare is based around clinical staff coming to the patient – as doctors and nursing staff visit their patients, they require secure access to information as fast as possible.”
The Solution
The Trust turned to BMS, one of their preferred NHS IT Solutions suppliers, to source an appropriate product to improve their overall workflows, provide increased control and reduce costs in the management of user identities. Imprivata OneSign was chosen to support the Trust’s clinical staff with Single Sign-On including fast user switching capabilities.
Working with its IT partner BMS, the implementation at the Trust began in July 2008, and is currently being rolled out across the Trust with full implementation scheduled by April 2009.
Imprivata OneSign is an identity and access management appliance that is designed to provide an easy, smart and affordable solution to issues around secure access to applications and data.
It supports the NHS smart card as a factor for strong authentication, as well as proximity cards, one-time-password tokens, biometrics and physical access cards.
Imprivata OneSign platform helps organisations safeguard enterprise information assets by enabling secure employee access to networks and applications—improving user productivity and convenience, whilst reducing the time, risk and cost of complying with data privacy and protection regulations.
The Benefits
Ray Burdge commented, “Previously, each user would have to log out completely in order for the next one to start their session when seeing the same patient. This could take several minutes to complete. Using fast user switching, we can remove this overhead to improve efficiency, whilst making access easier for our staff – they can now gain secure access to patient information in seconds. The SSO ensures higher levels of productivity and greater security of patient information.”
UHSM is also implementing single sign-on to replace the multiple application passwords that staff previously had to remember. The Trust is enrolling clinical applications for SSO including its patient administration system (PAS) and picture archiving and communications system (PACS), along with departmental packages such as radiology.
“We are using the NHS Connecting for Health smart card as a factor for strong authentication so users will automatically get secure access into all the clinical applications they require, including our PAS and PACS systems,” said Ray.
He stated “The next thing we’d like to do is to use the technology on proximity devices, so a card-reader can sense and log a doctor in from a certain distance - and they simply have to authenticate themselves when they get to the platform, saving considerable time.”
The Trust is waiting for NHS CfH to tell it which proximity devices are recommended for use by the NHS before they begin work. Ray anticipates that this will be announced in the next few months.
The approach that UHSM has taken with the combination of single sign-on with fast user switching and strong authentication demonstrates how NHS Trusts can improve speed of access and overall efficiency for clinical staff.
Ray also commented “We have built upon our relationship with BMS and have purchased a range of IT equipment and solutions including servers, EVA and Single SignOn.
BMS have always been very supportive across all aspects of our project requirements offering value for money, high levels of expertise and excellent customer support and service. It is important that we have high levels of communication and BMS keep us informed at all stages of the order process, this helps us keep our projects on track and meet milestones.
We regard them as our trusted advisors and look forward to a continuing and long lasting relationship with BMS.”
Related Case Studies:
- Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Implement Single Sign-On »
- East Kent Hospitals Streamlines Clinical Access with Single Sign-On »
- Single Sign-On Application and McAfee Safeboot at Tameside & Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust »