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Password sharing in the National Health Service

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Full story available at http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/05/30/230883/password-sharing-leaves-nhs-audit-trail-in-tatters.htm 

Investigators have been unable to trace a doctor involved a medical blunder that ended in a patient's death because staff in a Devon hospital had been sharing passwords. The doctor whose password was being used was not working at the hospital at the time. 

Password sharing in the NHS is said to be endemic partly because it has been reported that Login times could be as long as 10 minutes – whereas if everyone shares the same Login & Password for the shift, then with continuous access every minute or so no-one ever gets timed out. 

Bar & Restaurant Staff have to continuously have to Logon & Logoff from the Cash Register – but they achieve this in seconds using Tokens such as BarCodes or Magnetic Stripes. 

Why couldn’t the NHS give every Doctor & Nurse a Tesco Clubcard-style Badge on a Keyring, and they could swipe in & out that way in a matter of seconds – after all this really was a matter of life and death, and we don’t even know who was negligent. 

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