Northgate Managed Services and Imprivata Partnership Delivers Single Sign-On to NHS Scotland
28 July 2011
No-Click AccessTM for Health Workers across Scotland to Provide Enhanced Security for Electronic Health Records to Support Scotland's 'Better Health, Better Care' Strategy.
NHS Scotland has confirmed a purchase of a single sign-on and password reset (SSO/PR) solution to improve access to health systems, increase productivity and enhance data security for health workers across Scotland. The solution from Imprivata will provide No Click Access™ to the many patient systems that run in hospitals and health communities across Scotland. The agreement was procured through value added reseller, Trustmarque Solutions and will be facilitated via a partnership between Imprivata and leading ICT service and solution provider Northgate Managed Services, which will deliver and support Imprivata OneSignŽ across all of Scotland's NHS boards.
In support of its "Better Health, Better Care" initiative, a strategy and action plan established by the Scottish Government in 2007, NHS Scotland wanted to remove unnecessary cost, delays and better manage the workflow complexity associated with accessing electronic patient data. Building the best security was also a key priority to help protect the increasing volumes of sensitive information while allowing for maximum clinician-patient service improvement. After Northgate and Imprivata delivered a successful pilot ahead of schedule, NHS Scotland worked with Trustmarque through the tender process to secure a country-wide agreement to include licenses for Imprivata's OneSign, services, and five years of maintenance and support.
"NHS Scotland is committed to ensuring the highest levels of data security while enabling all employees to work as efficiently as possible to deliver high quality patient care," said Ronnie Monaghan, Head of e-Health Programme at NHS Fife. "Through a smart combination of healthcare and IT security expertise, Northgate Managed Services and Imprivata demonstrated the importance of understanding the complexities in patient and clinician workflow, ensuring that our patient data remains highly secure, and the need for maximising the time available between patient and clinician. As the appliance-based solution required no changes to existing infrastructure such as Active Directory, Imprivata OneSign can be seamlessly integrated with our existing IT systems at NHS Boards across Scotland. This will prove significant for improving access and usage of key clinical systems for providing care on a National scale."
James Turnbull, managing director, infrastructure solutions at Northgate Managed Services, added, "Northgate and NHS Scotland have a strong relationship built on trust and expert insight. We are delighted to build on this relationship by delivering industry leading healthcare technology and services that will improve productivity and efficiency, and ultimately contribute to better care for more patients in Scotland."
"Imprivata is pleased to have been selected as a core technology for NHS Scotland's 'Better Health, Better Care' programme," stated Omar Hussain, president and CEO at Imprivata. "NHS Scotland is a highly regarded technology innovator that leads the way for healthcare initiatives in countries around the world. We are very proud of the role that OneSign will play in the Boards' pursuit of clinical excellence, one of the key pillars of their action plan."
Mark Garrity, Regional Sales Director at Trustmarque Solutions, commented, "Trustmarque has a rich heritage of providing innovative solutions and value added services to the public sector in the UK, particularly within the NHS. Through the longstanding relationship and trust we enjoy with NHS Scotland we are delighted to provide the advice and support necessary to help NHS Scotland identify the information security solution for Scotland's healthcare boards."
