Nottinghamshire NHS Trust is rolling out technology to
give its 6,500 staff secure remote access to medical records and
other hospital systems.
The trust, which specialises in mental health, said the system
would improve patient care by allowing clinicians to update records
immediately following a consultation.
"It will make a huge difference to the guys in the field.
Previously they would have to write their notes up on a laptop and
transfer the data at the end of the day. There is obviously a huge
time lag with this, meaning records are out of date," said Steve
Wilkes, systems manager at Nottinghamshire NHS Trust.
The trust has a large number of mobile workers, and it works
closely with partner agencies, who need to have access to the
trust's computer systems.
Staff also often work from temporary offices that are not
connected to the trust's networks.
The trust has invested in a Citrix Client Access Gateway, which
allows staff to access computer systems from a remote PC via an
internet browser.
Wilkes said one of the biggest challenges was ensuring the
system, which provides access to sensitive medical data, was secure
and could only be accessed by authorised staff.
To this end, the trust has issued staff with two-factor
authentication tokens which generate a random password when staff
type in a Pin. Once access to the hospital network is gained, the
password is used to access applications.
The system also ensures security by scanning the end-user's
computer to ensure it has appropriate anti-virus and firewalls
before allowing it to connect to the network. It has been
configured to give users diallling in from insecure computers
permission to view documents while blocking downloading.
The hardware also allows IT staff to access the trust's IT
systems remotely for maintenance through a secure virtual private
network.
"We can do the same work from home in the evening or at the
weekend that we would have to do from an office. If there is a
problem, it means our guys do not have to drive 15 miles to fix
it," said Wilkes.
It took Nottinghamshire NHS Trust three months to install and
configure the access gateway hardware and software. It will roll it
out to staff over the next few months.
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