University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Trust Implements Single Sign-On with Fast User Switching
OneSign supports faster access to clinical data for hospital staff; provides full support for NHS smart card and audit reporting capabilities
LEXINGTON, MA - 13th August 2008 - Imprivata®, Inc., the converged authentication and access management appliance company, announced that University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust (UHSM) has chosen Imprivata OneSign to support its clinical staff with single sign-on, including fast user switching capabilities. Around 4,500 of the Trust’s staff will benefit from faster access to patient information, making them more efficient in delivering patient care, while also providing full audit reporting. The Trust will also be using the NHS Connecting for Health smart card as a factor for strong authentication to its applications.
The Trust saw 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 while tending to patients. By implementing fast user switching based on Imprivata’s OneSign appliance, clinician sessions can be switched more easily allowing a higher level of productivity for users and greater security of patient information. Working with 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 the end of the year.
Ray Burdge, IT Infrastructure Manager at UHSM 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. 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, while making access easier for our staff – they can gain secure access to patient information in seconds.”
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), picture archiving and communications system (PACS), along with departmental packages such as radiology. Users enter their network log-in and are automatically given access to the applications that they are authorised to use.
“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. 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,” continued Burdge.
Imprivata OneSign is an authentication 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 natively 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.
“With more than 50 National Health Service Trusts across the UK currently using the OneSign appliance, Imprivata is delivering a platform that supports healthcare organisations and their staff in providing the highest levels of patient care, as well as driving down the cost of managing user identities. 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,” commented Omar Hussain, CEO, Imprivata.
About Imprivata
Imprivata is the Converged Authentication and Access Management appliance company. Its OneSign platform helps organizations safeguard enterprise information assets by enabling secure employee access to networks and applications—improving user productivity and convenience, while reducing the time, risk and cost of complying with data privacy and protection regulations. OneSign has received top ratings in product reviews throughout the industry and has been awarded numerous accolades from leading publications including Information Security, InfoWorld and SC Magazine. Headquartered in Lexington, Mass., Imprivata is one of the fastest growing IAM companies with more than 575 customers and 200 partners around the world. For more information, visit http://www.imprivata.com.
About BMS
Business Management Services (UK) Limited or BMS is a leading computer solutions vendor specialising in the Healthcare market place. BMS provide a one-stop shop service, offering a broad range of IT solutions, into the NHS market and other Public Sector and Commercial organisations. BMS offer best of breed products and services at competitive prices along with installation, training and support services. BMS is a wholly independent organisation dedicated to investigating business problems for clients, proposing technology solutions to best fit their requirements and implementing these solutions. For more information, visit http://www.bms-it.co.uk/
About University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust
UHSM is a major acute teaching hospital trust providing services for adults and children at Wythenshawe Hospital and Withington Community Hospital. It is recognised as a centre of clinical excellence, demonstrated by our mortality rates, which are among the lowest in the UK. It provides district general hospital services and specialist tertiary services including cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery, heart and lung transplantation, respiratory conditions, burns and plastics, cancer and breast care services to patients across the North West and beyond.
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