Securing Data Privacy in the HealthCare Sector Erasmus Project

Project Title

Securing Data Privacy in the HealthCare Sector

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Health and wellbeing; Cooperation between educational institutions and business; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The healthcare industry is plagued by a myriad of cybersecurity-related issues posing new challenges in the Healthcare Sector. In an increasingly data-driven world, cyber security is no longer just a concern for experts. During the last 24 months, Europe came across an unprecedented number of cyber-attacks in terms of their global scale, impact on business sector and rate of spread.

Characteristically, the May’s 2017 attack in England’s National Health Service (NHS) demonstrated in the most flashing way the vulnerabilities of information systems (IS) in any possible way. Healthcare organizations are some of the most-trusted entities holding the most sensitive information about patients: name, date and place of birth, medical records, social security details. Suffering from many flaws (low budget, lack of IT organization, excessive use of legacy systems), healthcare actors have become easy targets for hackers, facing more and more pressure and threats from them.

The nature of the healthcare industry’s mission poses unique challenges since cyber-attacks can have ramifications beyond financial loss and breach of privacy.The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2016/679 which will be directly applicable in all member states by 25 May 2018 requires for healthcare organizations to re-think about their data flows and how they handle and monitor patient data to make sure they are in compliance with the regulation.

At the same time, the expected massive growth of data protection jobs redrives new skills, knowledge and competences from Healthcare employees. As a result, Healthcare Sector is facing the risk of rising skills mismatch between data protection officers/employees across European countries with different occupational profile on skills and competences and most importantly, different level of legislation/integration on data protection.

Our proposed Project aims at empowering the major actors with employees that are going to fill the gap and the identified skills mismatch through:
•Developing enhanced regional and cross-regional partnerships to ensure that a sufficient number of healthcare employees and learners receive the right training / education based on current needs
•Connecting educational and vocational training with healthcare industry and organisations in a more systematic and coherent way
•Developing an environment that is going to foster employability of employees in the healthcare sector, providing adequate tools that will better their working conditions and the quality of services provided
•Improving comparability and transfer of skills and competences focusing on-line training of current healthcare employees based on a blended approach, while introducing innovative education/ training initiatives
•Raising awareness and improving the knowledge on patients’ data privacy protection as well as providing concrete information on rising legal aspects

Concise description of the results and/or products expected:
-A renewed Occupational Profile for DPOs accompanied by a new Skills Chart
-A DPO VET Curriculum accompanied by a Peer Mentoring Scheme
-An Awareness raising Curriculum on Data Protection for current and future employees
-Data Protection and GDPR Learning Resources for learners and wider audiences
-On line Peer Mentoring Toolbox
-Development of effective feedback loops to enhance peer mentoring

Our partnership has formed a coherent strategy to reach:
•Stakeholders: Health associations, health/pharmaceutical industry, VET providers, independent data protection authorities Chamber Unions
•End users: DPOs, Information security experts, lawyers of Bars Associations, current and future employees in the Healthcare sector, learners & trainers making use of the learning and training resources developed

The impact envisaged:
SecureHealth is going to achieve an important Social and Financial Impact, specifically:

1.For Stakeholders:
•Strengthened interoperability network across employers and employees
•Employers and social partners will maintain an important role in shaping DPOs VET provision
•Industry-ready workforce meeting labour market needs
•Increased confidence and mutual trust for Data Protection
•Increased visibility of outputs through open multifarious dissemination channels

2.End users: current and future employees in Data Protection:
•Better employability chances
•Transparent joint qualifications and trasferrable skills through a viable Certification Scheme
•Enhanced competitiveness for the data protection field
•Exchange of good practices through trans-regional mobility and advanced peer mentoring schemes
•Harmonised but not homogenised learning-outcome based and teaching approach across the five countries

Finally, it must be underlined that within the project, special focus will be given in the management and accessibility of personal data in the context of outbreaks (such as the current COVID19 pandemics), following the European Data Protection Board’s statement in March 2020.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 192215 Eur

Project Coordinator

GENEPLANET, OSEBNA GENETIKA DOO & Country: SI

Project Partners

• MITROPOLITIKO COLLEGE ANOYMI EKPAIDEYTIKI ETAIRIA
• CREO Business Information & Seminars
• BK Consult GmbH
• Hrvatska komora medicinskih sestara
• IASO PRIVATE GENERAL, OBSTETRICS, GYNECOLOGICAL and PAEDIATRICS CLINIC, DIAGNOSTIC, THERAPEUTIC and RESEARCH CENTER S.A.
• IOTAM INTERNET OF THINGS APPLICATIONS AND MULTI LAYER DEVELOPMENT LTD