An IT firm’s Data Loss Prevention software is being deployed by Bedford Hospital NHS Trust, an acute district general hospital, to support in its compliance with the latest Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) regulations on data protection.
The Bedford Hospital Trust has deployed Symantec Data Loss Prevention to monitor and protect confidential Microsoft Exchange email traffic, to comply with the data protection law. It has chosen Symantec’s package to replace an assortment of mail filtering tools and scan its outbound email traffic to prevent the potential loss of confidential data.
Mark Austin, Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Bedford Hospital NHS Trust, says: “As a healthcare provider to more than 270,000 people, patient confidentiality is critical. Our hospital has clear policies in place to determine which data can and can’t be stored or transmitted by email and this system will help us ensure that these policies are adhered to.”
Symantec’s Data Loss Prevention product is being used to highlight the potential improvements which could be made to business processes for transmitting confidential data—such as patient records, employee information and trust data— as well as to ensure the hospital is not exposed to fiscal penalties for data loss from the ICO.
Matt Ellard, UK and Ireland vice president at Symantec, said: “Today information is the lifeblood of any organisation and the protection and management of this information is absolutely critical, particularly within the healthcare environment where considerable volumes of sensitive data need to be handled on a daily basis. We want our customers to be able to do what they do with the confidence that they comply with the necessary regulations. To work with one of busiest hospital trusts in England to help ensure the best possible protection of its information, their patients and staff is a concrete demonstration of our continued innovation and commitment to setting the standard for our industry.”
Dawn Monaghan, Strategic Liaison Group Manager for Public Services, at the ICO. says: “The health service holds some of the most sensitive information available. The damage and distress caused by the loss of a patient’s medical record is obvious, therefore it is vital that organisations across this sector make sure its data protection practices are adequate.”
