We have signed the NHS Cyber Security Charter for Suppliers, a commitment developed by NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care to raise the bar on cyber security across the health and social care supply chain.
What is the charter?
The charter is a public commitment from technology suppliers to the health and social care system. Signatories agree to maintain robust, up-to-date security practices across their own infrastructure, support NHS customers in meeting national security standards, and work openly with NHS England in the event of an incident.
In return, NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care commit to working collaboratively with suppliers on policy development, supporting NHS organisations to make informed procurement decisions, and adopting a Just Culture approach in the event of an incident.
Why does it matter?
Following several high-profile cyber incidents affecting the health and social care supply chain in recent years, NHS England created the charter to give suppliers an opportunity to publicly affirm their commitment to keeping the NHS and social care sector safe.
As a supplier whose products sit at the heart of how patients access their GP practice, the integrity and security of what we build and maintain is not negotiable.
Dave, head of Think Healthcare
“Technology and cyber risk go hand in hand. No organisation, however diligent, can guarantee that incidents will never happen. But that is not a reason to lower our standards. It is a reason to raise them.
When a cyber incident hits a healthcare organisation, it is not just systems that go down. Appointments get missed. Prescriptions are delayed. Clinicians lose access to the information they need. Patients are the ones who feel it.
Signing the charter is not a marketing exercise for us. It is a public statement that we hold ourselves to a standard. We owe that to the practices we work with and to the patients they serve.”
To find out more about the charter please visit: https://digital.nhs.uk/cyber-and-data-security/guidance-and-resources/cyber-security-charter-for-suppliers-to-the-nhs#top