NHS trial puts faith in ‘cloud’ technology

The NHS has announced that the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital will be first to pilot the use of ‘cloud’ technology to store its patient data. If successful, the trial could potentially lead to a roll out across NHS hospitals, and in doing so, mark a vital change to how records are stored in the future.

The main benefit of the cloud system for the NHS has been touted as patients having increased control over who is permitted to access their data, inviting specialist doctors, their GP, or health carers to view their results. In addition, the opportunity for medical professionals to securely access the most up to date patient data from any location is seen as a distinct advantage.

Indeed, this freedom is a key attribute of the ‘cloud’, along with the relative ease of ‘adding-on’ upgrades and changes to systems which traditionally demand a huge cost – inevitably an important business consideration but even more so in the public sector.

With the confidentiality of patient records paramount, the adoption – albeit on a trial basis – by NHS bosses demonstrates a telling confidence in cloud technology. While security scares, such as the Sony situation, have dominated the ‘cloud’ headlines in recent months, it is possible that inadequate data protection played a part in their troubles. The uncomfortable truth remains that large companies and institutions will always remain a target for hackers, regardless of where their sensitive data is stored.

With the right firewalls and other security, the cloud is no less secure than traditional methods of storing data, but comes with the added benefits that those systems lack. Indeed, the unique asset for doctors – being able to access the latest patient data from anywhere and on any device  may soon see storing data in the cloud as the ‘norm’ for NHS hospitals.