NHS ups patient privacy | Healthcare IT News

Summarize this content to a maximum of 60 words: As part of its strategy to become a leader in the “paperless NHS” initiative, Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has chosen a new patient privacy solution. The FairWarning Patient Privacy Monitoring solution will protect current patient records at the trust.
“Following a review to ensure that we had in place a model for information sharing, we saw privacy as being key to developing our reputation as a trusted provider of healthcare services to the public,” said Yvonne Salkeld, head of information governance at the trust.
Research shows that the number of security breaches involving patient data has doubled in the UK in the past four years. The greatest threat to patient privacy, according to studies, is unauthorized access of data by NHS staff.
“With 4,000 personnel, we undoubtedly have a small minority that may do things they shouldn’t,” said Salkeld. “Introducing FairWarning will provide our staff with the guidance and controls necessary to ensure that breaches of data no longer occur and action will be taken against those who do inappropriately access patient records.”
The trust aims to “achieve proactive, automatic audit and monitoring of all patient records,” she said.
“Reputation and patient trust are crucial success factors in the new NHS,” noted Tim Dunn, FairWarning general manager. “As the NHS evolves to enable electronic information sharing, leading trusts such as Cumbria Partnership, who understand that patient privacy leads to better care, will thrive.”