Imprivata Virtual Smartcard is now assured for use by NHS Trusts

Imprivata OneSign Spine Combined Workflow Plus replaces the need for physical smartcards – streamlining clinical workflows at NHS pilot site

London, England– September 21, 2022—Imprivata®, the digital identity company for healthcare and beyond, has achieved full assurance from NHS Digital for Imprivata OneSign® Spine Combined Workflow Plus which includes Imprivata Virtual Smartcard. As part of the assurance process, the virtual smartcard solution was successfully piloted at South Tees Hospitals NHS FT, where there was enthusiastic user adoption as it was proven to dramatically reduce time to login to the NHS Spine. The solution also reduces the number of logins required during a shift and streamlines clinical workflows, reducing the barrier to technology, and releasing clinicians’ time and attention back to patient care. A second pilot at an NHS Trust in the South of England is also successfully complete.

Angela Hopton, ICT System Support Services Manager, Registration Authority at South Tees Hospitals NHS FT commented; “The Trust is currently deploying Imprivata OneSign, so when we heard about Imprivata Spine Combined Workflow Plus, which includes Imprivata Virtual Smartcard, we were delighted as it solves a number of issues for us. The pilot has been run in the Diabetes Care Centre, with positive feedback from clinicians. 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.”

NHS Digital and Imprivata have been working together to agree the design and implementation for the Imprivata OneSign Spine Combined Workflow Plus solution that meets all of NHS Digital’s requirements. This solution includes Imprivata’s virtual smartcard.

The enhanced product, using versions of the software outlined below, has now been through that review process - our cyber security team has confirmed the design of the solution can be used for authentication (authentication to systems only) and our clinical team have approved the deployment of the solution following a successful pilot. For more information please visit: https://digital.nhs.uk/services/registration-authorities-and-smartcards/smartcard-services#imprivata-virtual-smartcard.

Imprivata Virtual Smartcard provides fast, secure No Click Access® to NHS Spine-enabled applications without the need for physical cards. The new solution improves security by eliminating smartcard workarounds and supports compliance with NHS information governance standards. Imprivata Virtual Smartcard removes the need for clinicians to remember login details, saving time throughout the day as they access the NHS Spine, allowing greater focus on delivering patient care.

Andrew Harrison, Principle Product Manager, International at Imprivata commented; “At Imprivata we have always been committed to providing solutions that remove the barrier to technology for clinicians enabling them to focus on their patients, while safe-guarding sensitive patient data. The Imprivata Virtual Smartcard is a significant evolution in access management. Clinicians only need to tap on to a computer to log into Spine-enabled applications from any location or device without the near half minute wait associated with physical smartcards. We received great feedback from clinicians, registration authorities and the IT department at South Tees.”

Imprivata has also marked a cyber security milestone after achieving its Cyber Essentials Plus (CE+) accreditation, the highest level of certification offered under the Cyber Essentials scheme. Cyber Essentials is a UK government-backed, industry-supported certification for cybersecurity. The certification demonstrates that the company has sufficient technical controls in place to defend against the vast majority of common cyber-attacks. CE+ requires independent verification by an external auditor who conducts a series of technical assessments to ensure the company is protected against various attack scenarios. In addition, Imprivata has completed the NHS Data Security Protection Toolkit (DSPT) further strengthening the level of organisational compliance with required standards. Both the DSPT and CE+ are completed annually and demonstrate commitment to ensuring that processes continually evolve and improve to meet the changing requirements of the NHS and industry best practices.

With no printing required, Imprivata Virtual Smartcards can be created and deployed to users at scale, facilitating efficient, secure compliant access without the need for expensive hardware. Imprivata OneSign Spine Combined Workflow Plus supports role-based identities enabling users to swiftly switch roles for varying clinical functions and, to support data governance requirements, providing a full audit trail of all interactions with Spine applications.

About Imprivata OneSign Combined Workflow Plus including Virtual Smartcard

Imprivata OneSign Spine Combined Workflow Plus provides the following benefits to NHS Trusts:

• Streamlines clinical workflows and simplifies NHS Spine access, thereby ensuring strong user adoption
• Increased clinician productivity with No Click Access® saves up to 25 seconds per login for improved focus on patient care
• Fast access to secure patient data encourages adherence to secure working practices while secure walk-away features protect un-attended workstations
• Compliance and information governance proven by accurate reporting on authentication and smartcard usage
• Application integration with leading EHRs and most specialised clinical applications

Imprivata Virtual Smartcard is part of the Imprivata OneSign family which includes; Imprivata Confirm ID – for comprehensive identity and multifactor authentication for remote access, and clinical workflows; Imprivata Mobile Access – for mobile authentication that can be used with shared medical devices and applications, and; Imprivata Medical Device Access – for fast, secure authentication of medical devices.

For more details please visit: https://www.imprivata.co.uk/nhs-spine-access.

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About Imprivata
Imprivata, the digital identity company for healthcare and beyond, provides identity, authentication, and access management solutions that are purpose-built to solve healthcare’s unique workflow, security, and compliance challenges. Imprivata enables healthcare securely by establishing trust between people, technology, and information across the increasingly complex healthcare ecosystem.

For more information please visit: www.imprivata.com/uk

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