Vaccination management
Improving the way vaccination events are recorded in Scotland.
Overview
Back in September 2020, Scottish Government commissioned NES to develop a vaccination management tool (VMT), to improve the way vaccination events were recorded in Scotland. At the same time the national clinical data store (NCDS) was created to standardise clinical workflow for vaccinations.
The previous vaccination recording system was paper based and involved various stages.
The NES team worked in collaboration, mainly with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, but with other health boards, Public Health Scotland and other stakeholders including National Services Scotland (NSS) and Scottish Government.
Process
The first thing the team did was to work with subject matter experts to figure out a core data set that would allow us to record the most crucial data. We carried out research to understand where and how the app would be used and who would be using it. Using these findings, we then created an initial prototype that offered a flexible and simple vaccination flow. Rapid prototyping using our style guide allowed for quick feedback and fast development.
We recorded our first flu vaccination episode as part of the pilot at the beginning of November 2020. The feedback from these pilot clinics provided valuable insights. A remote usability study was also carried out on the vaccination flow. This allowed us to identify detailed usability issues that affected the speed and ease of use of the app.
We had an eight-week window for planning and capturing our minimum clinical data set for recording vaccination. We spent eight weeks iterating versions and getting user feedback from vaccinators.
Gavin Holt
Senior Product Manager at NHS Education for Scotland
COVID-19 vaccinations begin!
After we analysed and improved the tool based on the pilot site and usability study, Turas Vaccination Management went live at the beginning of December 2020.
By the end of which we were able to pilot a minimum viable product (MVP) in flu clinics. Then we were ready to go live to support COVID vaccinations on the 8 December. It just kept growing and we've just continued to add features and functionality since then.
Gavin Holt
Senior Product Manager at NHS Education for Scotland
The purpose of the national clinical data store (NCDS) was to safely store the data gathered while making sure it could then be made available to GPs and others.
At the height of the pandemic, health boards and Public Health Scotland were receiving vaccination information via our vaccination API on an hourly basis and Public Health Scotland were then using that data to provide the daily figures to Scottish Government.
Impact
The application was used in hundreds of vaccination centres, ranging from mass centres in sports stadiums to buses to home visits and GP clinics.
To date, the Vaccination Management tool has recorded:
- 12 million vaccination events
- almost 5.5 million patients
The functionality of the app has been extended to support other vaccination programs since January this year.
Right now we are expanding our integrations with health boards, so that secondary care systems can have access to their patients, vaccination information and the NCDS.
