East Kent saves £80,000 with SSO

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust has announced that it has saved £80,000 by implementing Single Sign On technology from Imprivata.

The Imprivata OneSign software allows more than 7,000 users at the trust to connect to different applications via a single point of secure authentication.

This solution was procured by tender and awarded to BMS, a security specialist and principal partner of Imprivata, at the beginning of 2009.

The solution has enabled the trust to cut helpdesk calls by 25%, the equivalent of saving £80,000 per year, and has also improved security across the organisation’s IT environment.

Nicola Ellingham, project manager for SSO at East Kent, said: “Password resets and access issues are an incredible drain on IT resources.

"Imprivata's technology has helped eradicate these calls so that support staff can focus on other, more strategic areas of IT across the business.”

Omar Hussain, chief executive officer of Imprivata, told E-Health Insider that he expects more NHS organisations to implement Single Sign On as they move to electronic patient records.

He said: “More trusts are moving towards electronic patient records, which means that the IT around the record needs to be more secure than ever.

“Single Sign On means that only one password is needed to access a system which prevents staff from trying to remember numerous passwords, sharing passwords, writing them down or leaving computers unlocked.”

To date, more than 30% of acute trusts and 10% of primary care trusts have implemented Imprivata OneSign, according to the company. Imprivata has launched a pilot package, which offers a number of licences at a fixed fee.

Link: Imprivata