Lancashire Care’s IT systems achieve international accreditation

Lancashire Care’s IT systems achieve international accreditation

Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust has been awarded an internationally recognisedcoveted standard in information security following a rigorous assessment of its IT systems earlier this month.

The Trust’s Health Informatics team, which is in charge of IT infrastructure and security across the Trust, has recently been working hard to secure the ISO 27001 Standard for Information Security. This now means that service users and staff can be reassured that the Trust has a robust and agile security framework in place to protect their data.

To be awarded this certification, Lancashire Care had to be validated by an independent audit firm that is accredited by United Kingdom Accreditation Services (UKAS), the only national accreditation body recognised by the British government and in Lancashire Care’s case we were accredited by The British Assessment Bureau.

Damian Parkinson, Director of Health Informatics at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“Receiving the certification is testament to our commitment to security and further enforces Lancashire Care as a provider of quality care at the right time and in the right place. We’ve been working very hard towards achieving this accreditation and elated that we have done so. This is a huge achievement and an absolute credit to the Health Informatics Department. It is also a demonstration of our commitment to continuously improve processes and safeguarding data. It is a culmination of many thousands of hours of work undertaken by a team of dedicated staff and every single person in our team has played some part in achieving this. To maintain the certification, we will be having annual surveillance audits so the work will continue.”

The Health Informatics Department also recently achieved ‘Level 2 Accreditation for Excellence in Health Informatics’ for their proactive approach in supporting healthcare and encouraging staff to see professional development as important. The Trust is one of only three NHS organisations to hold the achievement and has plans to work towards Level 3 in the near future. The accreditation is run by the North West Informatics Skills Development Network which operates across all NHS trusts in England to support organisations to improve leadership, professional development skills, raise standards and share best practice.

The ISO 27001 is the international standard that describes the requirements for an information security management system, and covers every aspect of people, process and systems security.

The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) is the world’s largest and most trusted developer of international standards, determining world class specifications across almost every industry from technology to healthcare, and on products, services and systems to ensure the highest quality of efficiency and safety.