Managing seven children centres across the Cheltenham area, in addition to Gardners Lane and Oakwood Primary Schools, The Gardners Lane and Oakwood Federation offer a diverse range of services from early education to family support.
In order to shape service delivery to reflect the specific communities in which they are being delivered, The Gardner’s Lane and Oakwood Federation works closely with its local authority, Gloucestershire County Council, as well as with health, social care and education providers across the public and private sectors, sharing a range of agreed confidential information about their service users. As a result, The Gardners Lane and Oakwood Federation sought to implement a solution that would protect this shared information while in transit.
Gardners Lane and Oakwood Federation Business Manager Brian Howell explains: “The rise of multi-agency work has had a positive impact on the delivery of well-rounded, holistic services for the children and families we support. However, it has also increased the amount of confidential data that The Gardners Lane and Oakwood Federation shares electronically via email and file transfer with social care departments and their staff, schools, and health visitors. We consequently decided to implement an encryption solution to protect and control this information.
“The rise of multi-agency work has had a positive impact on the delivery of well-rounded, holistic services for the children and families we support. However, it has also increased the amount of confidential data that The Gardners Lane and Oakwood Federation shares electronically via email and file transfer with social care departments and their staff, schools, and health visitors. We consequently decided to implement an encryption solution to protect and control this information.”
Brian Howell, Business Manager, Gardners Lane and Oakwood Federation
“As we work closely with our local authority, Gloucestershire County Council, who were already using Egress Protect, we were aware of their benefits, such as real-time control, the ability to revoke access and audit functionality,” continues Howell. “Consequently our staff have full visibility over who is accessing the information they share, as well as the ability to grant or deny access on an individualby- individual basis. Such features enable us to remain responsive and flexible to the situational needs of the children and families we support, in addition to offering full confidence and reassurance that the confidential information we share electronically is protected.”
Commenting on the announcement, Egress VP Account Management Kelly McCann stated: “The Gardners Lane and Oakwood Federation’s adoption of Egress Protect reflects a growing trend of children’s services providers identifying an increase in the amount of ‘sensitive’ information they need to share electronically with external third parties and striving to protect it as part of the all-round care they offer. Implementing Egress Protect will not only aid service delivery from a data protection viewpoint, but as staff now have increased confidence to share more information electronically, it will also have added business benefits of improved efficiency and reduced cost overheads than when using the more conventional methods of recorded post and fax.”