Doctor's smartcard scheme extended

A smartcard system used to prove that doctors are authorised to practise has been extended to cover graduating medical students.

The NHS Occupational Health Smart Card (OHSC) database contains central records for some 47,000 NHS hospital doctors, made up of around 35,000 in training grades along with consultants, locums and other medical staff.

There are around 42,000 cards in circulation across the NHS and the software has been installed at 232 NHS trusts.

Doctors' personal and health clearance data are recorded onto the secure smartcards which remove the need for time-consuming transfer procedures.

When a doctor arrives at a new post, identity and pre-employment checking information such as health clearance, GMC registration status and criminal records data stored on the card can be verified through a central NHS database. Data on the card is accessed through a PIN.

If the verification is positive and their immunisations are current, that doctor is permitted to go on the ward.

The cards, from supplier TSSI, speed up transfer times and minimise unnecessary duplication in administration - prior to the smartcard scheme, junior doctors and medical students often needed to duplicate blood and immunisation tests for every new position to which they were assigned.

Barbara Levy, OHSC programme manager, said in a statement: "It is up to every doctor under their professional code of conduct to prove they are safe and fit to practise, and the card allows them to do so securely and consistently throughout their careers."

Health service staffing body NHS Employers told silicon.com that as the Connecting for Health programme rolls out across the NHS, there will be an "an exciting opportunity" for the OHSC project to move into the umbrella of unified, nationally based IT schemes.

It said this will be a step towards a single-card multi-application offering, combining the doctors' personal data card with the smartcard being developed to allow NHS clinicians their own secure access to electronic patient records, including the new electronic "Choose and Book" system