Cloud computing – Securing patient data

96 *Address for correspondence: Mr. David Charles Amos, 780 Melton Road, Thurmaston, Leicester, LE4 8BD, United Kingdom. E‐mail: david.amos.uk@gmail.com to be able to share access to that data with roles outside of the hospital environment. External roles may be approved third parties involved in patient support at home – allowing patients to be discharged as early as possible, thereby making a ward bed available for another patient. Providing external access to legacy systems is particularly difficult due to the fact they are unlikely to be compatible with mobile devices and ring-fenced behind many layers of IT security for protection. To resolve this dilemma, the application needs to be redesigned and rebuilt as a cloud computing service so that the use of the application and the data held therein may then be shared by those approved to have access. A fundamental element of the new application design is that it should provide access via a standard browser so that any mobile device may operate with the system. Here is where the need for a new model of security becomes the key.