NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) supplies blood to more than 260 hospitals, 365 days a year. Working with many different clients and agencies, NHSBT’s data-sharing needs are complex and, as the only provider of blood donations in England, critical.
As technology has evolved, data sharing and collaboration has grown in importance and complexity. Increased demands place a higher burden on networks and systems. Individuals move on and new recruits, unfamiliar with existing scripts and processes, write new scripts. Over time, these ad hoc additions make systems slow and cumbersome. The system inevitably becomes more unwieldy and genuine current business requirements are harder to identify above the ‘this is what we’ve always done’ traffic.
Responsible for blood and organ donations, distribution and orders, lab systems and blood testing, the demands on the system are both complex and time critical. NHS Blood and Transplant’s existing File Transfer systems were managing more than 400 jobs. Over time, it became clear that NHS IT systems needed to be upskilled to cope with future demands.
As technology has evolved, data sharing and collaboration has grown in importance and complexity. Increased demands place a higher burden on networks and systems. Individuals move on and new recruits, unfamiliar with existing scripts and processes, write new scripts. Over time, these ad hoc additions make systems slow and cumbersome. The system inevitably becomes more unwieldy and genuine current business requirements are harder to identify above the ‘this is what we’ve always done’ traffic. Responsible for blood and organ donations, distribution and orders, lab systems and blood testing, the demands on the system are both complex and time critical. NHS Blood and Transplant’s existing File Transfer systems were managing more than 400 jobs. Over time, it became clear that NHS IT systems needed to be upskilled to cope with future demands.
Establishing a robust solution in which flexibility and security are central
NHSBT had identified more than 100 technical requirements for the new system. With this information, Insight collaborated with HANDD Business Solutions (HANDD) to successfully bid under a competitive tender exercise which was scored against these requirements.
HANDD’s extensive experience equips it with an extensive understanding of the Managed File Transfer space. Meanwhile, its core partner, Insight, has built a wealth of experience in the Public Sector. Together, they combined perfectly to create a dynamic team that accommodated the needs and complexities of such a unique project. Meanwhile, NHSBT was able to benefit commercially from HANDD’s robustly independent approach to Data Security.
HANDD’s vast experience in this sector helped to crystalise NHSBT`s understanding of its own requirements, one of which was the need for a further layer of security including anti-virus and threat protection. HANDD recommended Fortra’s Clearswift ICAP Gateway Solution which would work seamlessly in conjunction with Globalscape to deliver a fully automated solution. The solution identifies areas of risk such as sensitive information, malware or high-risk executables as they flow through the existing web proxy or managed file transfers. In doing so, it heightens the protection of critical information in motion.
