IT news: Data security solution to be rolled out to all Scottish health boards following successful trial

Leading ICT services and solutions provider, Northgate Managed Services, has secured a contract from NHS Scotland after its FairWarning privacy surveillance solution proved a success during a pilot at NHS Lothian.

The issue of data security is one that is affecting more and more organisations in today’s technology-based business environment and it has never been so important for those in possession of critical information to protect it

The deployment resulted in immediate and significant improvements in the protection of data for almost one million patients in the region and will now be rolled out to all 14 NHS boards across the country.

It is the latest health contract win by the Scottish arm of Northgate, Northern Ireland’s biggest IT company, which recently secured a £6.5m deal to deliver a clinical portal service for an NHS consortium representing four NHS boards across Scotland.

James Turnbull, Northgate’s managing director, said: “The issue of data security is one that is affecting more and more organisations in today’s technology-based business environment and it has never been so important for those 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 and I am confident the solutions provided will only help to reassure patients that any information being held is done so securely.”

The FairWarning privacy surveillance solution will help protect the electronic record TRAKcare system from internal security breaches.

Turnball said: “Records from multiple healthcare applications are processed by pulling audit files from each system identified by any NHS board to be monitored. The surveillance is non-evasive and systematically identifies users who are engaging in patient record access patterns that are indicative of snooping, password sharing and other suspicious behaviours.

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

“This pro-active monitoring enables boards to review, in advance, anything likely to be deemed as a data protection breach and take steps to further prevent incidents occurring.  It can reduce privacy incident rates considerably and enable a rapid and thorough response to patient privacy enquiries. Replacing the manual review process with an automated system also generates considerable efficiencies and return on investment.

Jackie Stephen, head of eHealth for NHS Borders health board, said: “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.”