NHS Digital has partnered with Egress to support the UK’s secure healthcare communications network.

The email security firm’s Egress Protect solution will be integrated into NHSmail to offer enhanced protection and improve user experience.

NHSmail is used by up to 1.5 million healthcare staff daily and is the largest closed email network in the UK. It is a secure email service, approved by the Department of Health and Social Care, for sharing sensitive information.

Egress Protect lets healthcare practitioners send encrypted emails to unsecure domains, including patients and other areas of the health and care system, as well as offering automatic decryption for inbound email. This allows those recipients of NHSmail emails that are encrypted using Egress Protect to read and reply free of charge via an easy-to-use online portal or using Egress’ free app for Outlook integration.

The solution is already used by many local government organisations and private healthcare providers in the UK. Following an initial pilot phase, Egress is now the new provider for sending sensitive emails from NHSmail accounts encrypted to external email accounts.

Chris Parsons, programme head for NHSmail at NHS Digital, said: “The partnership with Egress will deliver an effective user experience, supporting security and compliance with GDPR with detailed auditing and reporting.”

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