Lewisham Primary Care Trust is poised to implement one
of the first biometric single sign-on security systems in the
NHS.
The system, at a new children’s centre in south-east London,
will initially give password- and biometric-controlled access to
applications used by 260 staff in the primary care, mental health
and local authority social care agencies. Some 3,500 staff working
with the trust will eventually gain access to systems using the
fingerprint technology.
The security set-up works at three levels. Staff will use
passwords the first time they log in to the system, which has a
password self-management facility designed to reduce the number of
calls to the helpdesk.
Security is maintained using a biometric fingerprint reader for
each user and an authentication appliance from Imprivata every time
they subsequently log on during the day.
The third level of security uses Cisco Clean Access, which
checks the status of a PC or laptop to ensure it has the latest
anti-virus and security software. Lewisham is a big Novell user,
running the Groupwise collaboration suite, and passwords will be
synchronised with Novell eDirectory.
Staff will move into the children’s centre in August, though the
system will be operable from the end of July, said James Rodd,
specialist healthcare account manager at systems integrator
Logicalis, which is building the system.
Rodd said most users welcomed the use of biometric security.
“You get the odd comment that ‘someone will chop my finger off’ and
you do get comments about freedom of information and human rights,
but most people see that the benefits outweigh the risks,” he
said.
The benefits of the system, said Rodd, include the ability to
keep data separate from each department, and to track application
usage to help manage software licences.
As part of the roll-out, Logicalis is building a Cisco-based IP
network for Lewisham Trust that will handle voice calls as well as
data.