Healthcare: can modern Identity management deliver a vital shot of patient centricity?

Doing right by patients is as important to today’s healthcare professionals as it was to those who founded the NHS. But with an ageing population, more people suffering with multiple morbidities, post-pandemic elective waiting lists remaining high, and the numbers visiting A&E departments soaring, what role can modern Identity management play in delivering the all-important patient-centricity that results in better outcomes?  

It’s about dosing up on collaboration and efficiency. You see, the UK has fewer doctors per 1,000 citizens than the OECD average for Europe, yet staff vacancies remain persistently unfilled after our withdrawal from the EU. The result is a woefully under-resourced NHS. But if we can allow the clinicians who are in post to collaborate and deliver medical interventions more efficiently and effectively, the NHS will be one step closer to achieving its passionate commitment to putting patients’ needs first. 

England needs nearly 50,000 additional FTE doctors just to put us on an equivalent standard with today’s OECD EU average of 3.7 doctors per 1,000 people.

With a single cloud-based Identity management and access solution for the workforce, clinicians and administrators can sign on effortlessly to the systems and data repositories they need to work swiftly with counterparts in other departments and across Trusts. Something that will become more important as trusts merge.

The days of laboured logins, protracted access requests, and chaotic password management will be gone, and time-to-patient outcomes will accelerate. In addition, access to and sharing of critical information, including clinical research, treatment plans, process innovations, records and reporting, makes it easier to see patients holistically too. 

But in all this talk of seamless logins and faster access to information, we must also consider data security. In an era where cyber breaches from unauthorised use of data have cost the NHS over £1.5 million in just one a year, the importance of cyber security cannot be overlooked. 

Exactly how can Identity management help?  

• It helps NHS organisations keep pace with digital transformation using a cloud-based system that’s scalable and adaptable – however your workforce changes and wherever digital innovation takes you. Consistent access can be guaranteed even as user roles change, even across Trusts, while maintaining robust security, through comprehensive access policy creation. 
• Prevent the risk and cost of a breach and only let the right people in, with multi-factor authentication (MFA), threat detection and reporting. With automation technology, policy engines can deliver stronger Identity hygiene. 
• Deliver a great user experience every time, from any place – as Trusts morph and integrate, clinicians and administrators can retain a seamless user experience with an Identity solution that offers smooth integration with legacy systems. Importantly for administrators, it works brilliantly alongside Microsoft’s Office productivity tools too.
• Automated workflows and lifecycle management for a smooth and consistent onboarding and offboarding process for every NHS user, no matter their role or level of use. 
• Divert IT to higher value activities – using the centralised access management and adaptability that allows developers to quickly deploy new or updated tools. It’s a developer-lite solution, ideal for when cost pressures are significant.
• Give medical teams the freedom to put patient interests first with a solution that gives them all the scope they need to protect patient data and stay safely within regulations on data use and privacy. It’s the kind of tailored control and access that will help clinicians keep patient-centricity front and centre, wherever they work.  

With Okta Workforce Identity Cloud (WIC) you get all this, and more.

¹https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/nhs-delivery-and-workforce/workforce/nhs-medical-staffing-data-analysis#:~:text=High%20vacancies,5.7%25%20of%20all%20medical%20posts.
²https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/nhs-delivery-and-workforce/workforce/nhs-medical-staffing-data-analysis#:~:text=High%20vacancies,5.7%25%20of%20all%20medical%20posts
³https://www.legalexpert.co.uk/data-breach-compensation/medical-data-breach-compensation-claims/research-statistics-on-nhs-data-breach-compensation-claims/

Why not put us to the test and see what great Identity management can do for your Trust, your teams, and your patient outcomes too?
Get your free 30-day trial of either WIC here.