Portsmouth hospitals go for single sign-on

Portsmouth Hospitals National Health Service (NHS) Trust is implementing a single sign-on and context management system as part of an ongoing efficiency drive.

The trust, which includes Queen Alexandra hospital as one of the largest in the UK that is currently being refurbished, will implement the new technology to speed up and simplify the process clinicians use to log onto patient information systems.

Security has not been as tight as it should be because of the time taken to log in and out of these applications, according to Philip Scott, head of IT projects and development at the trust.

As a result, he said: "Often one hospital worker will log on to a workstation in the morning and remain logged on all day, with other people accessing information through that individual's log in.

"This violates all the security policies that should be in place and makes it impossible to effectively restrict access to certain applications based on role, or monitor who is accessing what information."

Portsmouth clinicians will use single sign-on and context management software from healthcare identity and access management specialist, Sentillion to eliminate error, speed information access, maintain patient privacy and provide a security audit trail.

Scott added: "Previously, taking steps to improve the situation meant running the risk of making it impossible for clinicians to find vital information when it matters. A single sign-on and context management solution enables us to give them access to the information they need in seconds."

The trust will begin the roll out with a pilot scheme in its highly-computerised critical care unit (CCU), with plans to complete full deployment across the entire trust over the next year. Initially, the system will be used for doctors and nurse specialists wanting to access electronic patient records EPRs), test requesting, critical care and imaging systems. More users and applications will be integrated in time.

"Our clinicians were really impressed with how much slicker the whole process becomes, and how rapidly you can log on to the network and synchronise the applications you need: a couple of clicks, a few seconds," Scott added.