Using Your Smartcard - Authenticate Using My Care Identity

Smartcard technology within Skyline uses My Care Identity to authenticate. You will not be able to log into Skyline using your Smartcard unless you’ve an existing Skyline account, and have linked your My Care Identity account to your Skyline user.

Note, the email address held in My Care Identity MUST match your Skyline user login email.

If your My Care Identity email differs, you will need to change your email address. Please follow the ‘How To Change Your My Care Identity Email Address’ instructions below BEFORE linking your account in Skyline.

Note, as part of the accreditation requirement, a 15 minute timeout has been applied to the Smartcard login.

When authenticating using My Care Identity with your Smartcard, if there is a period of inactivity on your PC lasting 15 minutes or longer, your Skyline session will be terminated. Note, you will be warned approximately 40 seconds before this happens and moving the mouse will prevent the logging out.

If the Skyline session is terminated, you will need to log back into Skyline again.

New clinicians? Request a Skyline account Skyline User Request & User Deactivation Forms

Having difficulty linking / unlinking your Smartcard?

If after following the instructions below, you feel you need additional assistance, please email Informatica Support - support@ishealth.co.uk

We’ll need to know your practice ODS code and a brief description of the problem.

Linking Your My Care Identity Account In Skyline

When you log into the Skyline Desktop Connector, you will be given the option of logging in using your My Care Identity or Email address and password. If you choose My Care Identity, you MUST have linked your My Care Identity account to your Skyline account.

Note, it’s only possible to link a single My Care Identity to a Skyline user account. This can be removed or replaced by following the instructions under ‘Remove The Link In My Care Identity’ below.

Ensure your Smartcard is in the Smartcard reader
Log into Skyline using the green Username / Password button
- Add your email address and password
- Click Login
- Select your Role

Click on the head icon in the top right corner of the Desktop Connector
- Click on Link My Care Identity

You will be presented with the box below

Click on Link My Care Identity
Click on Smartcard - Authenticate with My Care Identity

Click on Continue
Authenticate with your Smartcard

Note, as mentioned above, the email address held in My Care Identity MUST match your Skyline user login email.

Once this has been done you will be notified that your My Care Identity is now linked

Click on Close
Click on the head icon in the top right corner of the Desktop Connector
Click on Logout

Logging Into Skyline With Your Smartcard

Ensure your Smartcard is in the reader
Open the Skyline Desktop Connector login box

Click on NHS log in with Care Identity

Skyline checks if you’re already logged into My Care Identity and that it’s linked to your Skyline account.

Note, if you have not authenticated in My Care Identity in the last 15 minutes, you will be required to reauthenticate.

If your PC has been logged off or dormant for longer than 15 minutes, you will need to authenticate
- Click on Smartcard
- Click on Continue
- Authenticate your Smartcard

Skyline will check if the My Care Identity is linked to your Skyline user account. If you’ve successfully linked your My Care Identity to your Skyline account, your roles will be listed.

Select your role to login the Skyline Desktop Connector

Note, in the current version, the Skyline UI web browser will automatically open BUT will NOT be logged in. Please close this window and use the ‘Open Browser Application’ link on the Desktop Connector to open the Skyline UI as this automatically authenticates.

How To Change Your My Care Identity Email Address

If the email address registered in your My Care Identity differs from the email address registered in Skyline, your email address will need to be changed before you’re able to complete the linking of your Smartcard. This can only be completed by your Practice Manager or Proxy RA Agent as they have permissions to access the CIS portal. They will need to:-

Log into the CIS Portal
Access your staff record
Change the email address on the Spine to the same email address in Skyline (lowercase)
Save the changes

Session management/Logging Out

When you log out of My Care Identity, the Skyline session will be terminated and you will need to login again.

This may happen when:

The session expires. The Skyline session length is set to 12 hours.
The session was established using a smartcard and the smartcard session expires. The My Care Identity Authentication session length is set to 12 hours.
The session was established using a smartcard and the smartcard is removed.
The My Care Identity can be used to authenticate different applications but a maximum of 10 My Care Identity sessions can be active at one time. If you create an 11th session in a different browser or on a different device, or in a previously closed browser, the oldest session will be closed.

The user may also choose to log out of Skyline by selecting the Logout option. This would not end terminate their My Care Identity session, but it would terminate their Skyline session.

Removing The Linked My Care Identity

Log into the Skyline Desktop connector using your email address and password
Click on the head icon in the top right corner
- Click on Link My Care Identity

Click on Remove My Care

Click on Close