Smartcards in the health sector are now being used for electronic discharge procedures, instead of printing off paper documents, and for virtual private network (VPN) access, without the use of more expensive network tokens.

By avoiding tokens, Lincolnshire NHS reckons it will save £100,000 over five years in acute settings, and a much greater £300,000 a year in community settings.

Nigel Gay, assistant director of ICT operations at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust, said: "We wanted to integrate as many uses of the card as possible, so it means staff have to carry the card with them, thus helping

reduce the risk of sharing and increase information governance compliance."

Smartcards are also now being used by managers to access the electronic staff record system, and in addition they are being more widely re-used for door access in care buildings, to allow staff easier transfers between departments.