Technology
effective management of digital identities provides the ability for day-one, role-based access to all applications that they need. Digital identity provides instant authentication
at shared workstations and mobile devices such as tablets or phones that are increasingly a feature of modern healthcare. Digital identity can also be used to manage medical devices such as those used for patient observations and early warning scores, mobile medicine cabinets, clinical weighing scales and much more.
Digital passports for clinicians A digital staff passport for NHS employees is currently being developed as part of the Long Term Plan.4
Its intention is to bring together
all the staff member’s relevant personal data plus the authorisations to access the systems and devices needed to perform their job role in a self-service identity. This could include information provided by multiple trusted sources such as DBS check results, medical qualifications from academic bodies, license to practice credentials from the GMC, NHS employment history, and immunisation histories, for example. All the information that shows an individual is qualified to work in a particular role, will be available, instantly, in one place. The passport will also provide the authorisations which the employee needs to access the systems and devices which will enable them to actually do their job day to day. This will include access to clinical systems, electronic patient records and medical devices. It will also provide access to the administrative systems which control entry to facilities, personal HR data such as contact and holiday information, training records and expenses. In summary the NHS digital staff passport will
make it easy to rapidly access the data needed to allow someone to perform their role and provide the accesses required to enable them to do their job wherever they need to work.
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Case study: Bolton NHS Foundation Trust
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust extended its deployment of single sign-on technology with the addition of mobile device access to provide clinicians with fast, secure and auditable access to eObservations, a system to record patient vital signs. Clinicians electronically record patient vital signs quickly and securely via shared mobile devices, improving quality of care and patient safety.
The results included: l Accurate and up to date information improves patient outcomes
l Patients receive correct level of attendance based on signs of deterioration
l Fast, safe authentication of users provides assurance for patient information and information governance
“The Imprivata solution has minimised the administration burden on healthcare professionals and delivered tangible benefits in the care of patients,” commented Dr. Simon Irving, chief clinical information officer, Bolton NHS FT.
The NHS response to the COVID-19 pandemic utilised a simple form of digital passport.5 This greatly assisted in the rapid onboarding of armed forces personnel to help in the vaccination rollout. By means of a digital COVID passport military medics could be quickly deployed to vaccination centres around the country.
Case study: South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The average timesaving, across UK NHS Trusts, is 20 minutes per person, per shift, and this was a significant benefit for the South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The Trust was a pilot site for a new virtual smartcard for accessing spine enabled applications which solved the logistical challenges of issuing smartcards and smartcard readers. The results included: l Easy, secure access to all Spine apps l 12-hour window of access where cards do not get locked out
l Card backlog solved as no cards to print, therefore, no hardware issues
“As well as providing a better experience for users, Imprivata Virtual Smartcard takes up significantly less resource for ICT, as well as removing issues such as sourcing physical cards, printers, consumables and card readers,” explained Angela Hopton, ICT system support services manager, registration authority, South Tees Hospitals NHS FT.
On arrival each centre could verify their
credentials by simply scanning a QR code in each person’s digital passport wallet so that they could immediately begin work.
Patient biometric ID Positive patient identification has always been important. Care can only be effective if the correct care is provided to the correct patient, using the right patient information. As highlighted by the HSSIB report, misidentification can lead to dire consequences. While not currently used in the UK, patient biometric ID is a growing trend in the US, and some African and Asian markets.
Biometric information is very difficult to steal
and therefore helps to combat fraudulent use of other forms of ID that enable patients in some markets to receive treatment by impersonating someone else. With care in the UK free at the point of delivery, proof of ID for insurance or payment reasons is not a driver. However, matching the right patient to the right patient record could avoid many of the misidentification issues and near misses that plague healthcare
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