Aintree University Hospitals Delivers Flexible Working
Secure remote access solution from Network Defence enables Trust employees to work from home with an easy-to-use and cost-effective solution
"Keeping patient information and Trust data secure is of utmost importance, Network Defence has given us a solution which not only gives staff flexibility , but gives us a cost-effective way to keep sensitive information secure."
Ward Priestman, IT Director for Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Key Benefits
- Flexible, secure remote access for employees with a much higher level of security than before
- Enables the Trust to have greater control over access rights
- Helps the Trust to reduce IT costs
- Simple and easy for employees to use
The Challenge
Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, based in Liverpool, comprises two main hospitals providing acute healthcare to a population of 330,000 in North Merseyside and surrounding areas. University Hospital Aintree provides Accident & Emergency services and a wide range of acute and non-acute specialties, while Walton Hospital provides outpatient and day surgery services. It is also a teaching hospital for the University of Liverpool and a tertiary centre providing specialist services to a much wider population of around 1.5 million in Merseyside, Cheshire, South Lancashire and North Wales.
The Trust wanted to enable greater flexible working for its remote and mobile staff whilst ensuring patient and other sensitive data was protected. Furthermore, the previous remote access solution in place used a secure token authentication process, which required a high level of maintenance and was costly to run.
The Trust required a cost effective, remote access solution which incorporated secure connectivity and strong authentication as standard, to provide strong security and ease of use for employees. In addition, they wanted the ability to accommodate third party access if required; therefore the solution needed to be flexible in terms of access options and controls.
The Solution
The Trust chose Network Defence to implement a managed AppGate Security Server solution with Nordic Edge two factor authentication. The solution allows secure access to the protected network from a remote device using authentication, encryption and access restriction.
The remote access solution uses advanced technology to deliver secure access control that outperforms old perimeter-based security models. It combines an application layer firewall with device security and a VPN in one solution that provides full control over corporate information.
The solution works in a similar way to SSL VPN solutions, but uses Secure Shell (SSH2) for securely accessing the protected network from a remote device. SSH2 is a recognised standard that is controlled by an IEFT working group.
The remote access solution includes a range of software clients which provide users with an interface to the organisation. These clients range from installable clients for mobile devices, Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OSX, Linux and Solaris operating systems to clientless solutions which only require Sun Java to be installed on the host system.
The managed service included as part of the solution guarantees remote access is available 24x7 and ensures the Trust’s network and data are protected at all times. This allows the Trust’s in-house IT resource to focus on delivering core business IT services.
Earlier this year Network Defence deployed over 500 SafeStick USB flash drives across the Trust to administration, clinical and non-clinical staff, who need to transfer data as part of their role. The USB data security solution ensures all data that is transferred using data sticks can only be read by users who have the correct password, helping to keep confidential data and sensitive information secure. The solution also helps reduce the number of service desk calls the IT department gets regarding issues with data storage.
The Benefits
The managed AppGate Security Server solution implemented by Network Defenceis easy to use and enables cost effective flexible working for staff working off site or from home, with much higher security than before.
A key benefit of the solution is that it provides a robust level of remote access security; it controls user access to protected resources and its powerful and flexible authorisation database contains rules for what applications and services should be available to each user. This ensures the Trust has close management over access, giving them the ability to grant or restrict access rights depending on individual needs.
All users now have access to their emails from home, whilst clinical users are able to access clinical-based applications and can carry out other functions of their job remotely, such as prescribing medication. Additionally, the solution is able to accommodate third party access if required by the Trust.
Another significant benefit of the managed AppGate Security Server solution is the cost savings it brings to the Trust. The former remote access system cost the Trust approximately one thousand pounds per mobile user as it had to provide each user with a corporate laptop and a costly secure token authentication process. With the managed AppGate Security Server solution, employees can use their own personal computers, meaning the Trust can provide remote access to a much larger number of employees, at the fraction of the cost of the previous solution.
Ward Priestman, IT director at Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Keeping patient information and Trust data secure is of utmost importance and we are always looking for methods to maintain data security. Having worked previously with Network Defence, we know their expertise and knowledge ensures we get the solution that is right for us, so we approached them with the issue of finding an alternative remote access solution.
“Network Defence has given us a tailored solution, which gives us a cost-effective way to keep sensitive information secure. The new remote access solution means that we can now offer our employees a more flexible approach to working without worrying about whether our data is at risk.”
The Trust’s deployment of the secure remote access solution is part of their overall strategy to improve data security throughout the organisation, reduce IT costs and ease the burden of IT support on the Trust’s IT department.
Ward continues: "Staff and patients expect us to take all reasonable steps to safeguard their data, and that's exactly what we are doing. We want to find solutions which help keep our sensitive data secure and set the standard for others to follow. And as other NHS trusts have already approached us to ask about the security measures we have taken, we are hopeful that that is what we are doing."
Technologies Used
- VPN Mobile Working / Remote Access
- Endpoint Security Solutions
- Fully Managed Network Services
