A CARE trust has been awarded a top accreditation for its cyber security.

Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust is one of only around a dozen health trusts in the country to receive the Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation, in recognition of its IT system security.

The trust says secure IT systems are central to delivering the mental and community health and specialist learning disability services it provides.

It adds that its advanced cyber security controls guard against common attacks such as phishing, ransomware, malware and password and network hacks.

Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation is part of a Government-backed scheme, developed by the National Cyber Security Centre.

Tim Rycroft – chief information officer with the care trust – pays tribute to the trust’s cyber security and IT teams for their work to achieve the top accolade, which he said would assure members of the public, stakeholders and partner organisations across the district that advanced security controls were in place.

He added: “This accreditation is a real testament to the hard work and continued commitment of our cyber security team to protect our staff and, ultimately, the patients and service users.”

The care trust provides services across Bradford, Airedale, Wharfedale, Craven and Wakefield, and is part of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership.