Mental Health Practitioners Database Development for the NHS
London, UK (06/07/2010)
Lab Lateral is delighted to announce the launch of its most recent IT development for the public sector.
The Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust, a division of the NHS, selected Lab Lateral to create a central UK wide database containing information on qualified Section 12 mental health clinicians available across the UK. The purpose of the system was to make this information easy to manage and straightforward to access by public sector workers such as the police, social workers and the courts. The project had three objectives: a) to centralise existing regional databases, b) to make the system easy to use and c) to secure the data.
New Database Programming Required
The information on mental health practitioners was previously contained in separate regional databases without any central control, access. or integration. Information was not kept up to date and users were often frustrated at the inability to extract the required records due to a cumbersome search facility that meant that information was not available when needed. Lab Lateral designed and programmed a new database and online search structure that replaced the original databases, within a single national system incorporating regional access and security controls.
A small number of system administrators were given access to all of the information with the ability to make modifications to the data. The thousands of users were grouped according to user organisation, e.g. social services, courts or police, and by region. Depending on their access permission, they were presented with a subset of the information that was relevant to them.
User Friendly Functionality
For the database to be effective, its functionality had to be easy to use and intuitive. The majority of its users were public sector employees with immediate requirements, under pressure to quickly find and contact mental health practitioners.
Lab Lateral took the time to understand the needs of the users in order to plan the best way of structuring the data. The main requirement was that the data could be found and retrieved quickly. To achieve this, Lab Lateral designed functional screens that were logically laid out and easy for the user to understand. Improvements were made to the search facility so that a number of criteria, such as location, name, or specialisation could be used to find the required information. The system was integrated with Google Maps, allowing the end user to immediately see the location of suitable doctors. The interface was programmed to allow users to only see information, navigation and functionality that they were allowed to utilise, providing a better user experience and maintaining security.
Database Security
The system provided a flexible but robust way of securely managing users. Administrators were given the capability to set access permissions according to user groups. A small number of systems administrators were given access to all functions and were able to add, edit and remove users on the system.
The control over users of the system was supported by Digital DNA, the latest in applications security software, from our partners, Mobilegov. Each administrator was given their own unique identifying key for them to access the system. This gives the administrators two-factor, strong authentication ensuring a much greater level of protection for data than simply username and password.
It was imperative to secure the sensitive information stored within the system to prevent it from leaking out to unauthorised users. The data was fully encrypted when at rest and all data communications go over the HTTPS 128bit encrypted standard to prevent data interception.
The system was launched after undergoing rigorous in-house testing. All areas of the system have been checked for vulnerabilities to ensure the best levels of data security.
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London, UK (06/07/2010)
Lab Lateral is delighted to announce the launch of its most recent IT development for the public sector.
The Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust, a division of the NHS, selected Lab Lateral to create a central UK wide database containing information on qualified Section 12 mental health clinicians available across the UK. The purpose of the system was to make this information easy to manage and straightforward to access by public sector workers such as the police, social workers and the courts. The project had three objectives: a) to centralise existing regional databases, b) to make the system easy to use and c) to secure the data.
New Database Programming Required
The information on mental health practitioners was previously contained in separate regional databases without any central control, access. or integration. Information was not kept up to date and users were often frustrated at the inability to extract the required records due to a cumbersome search facility that meant that information was not available when needed. Lab Lateral designed and programmed a new database and online search structure that replaced the original databases, within a single national system incorporating regional access and security controls.
A small number of system administrators were given access to all of the information with the ability to make modifications to the data. The thousands of users were grouped according to user organisation, e.g. social services, courts or police, and by region. Depending on their access permission, they were presented with a subset of the information that was relevant to them.
User Friendly Functionality
For the database to be effective, its functionality had to be easy to use and intuitive. The majority of its users were public sector employees with immediate requirements, under pressure to quickly find and contact mental health practitioners.
Lab Lateral took the time to understand the needs of the users in order to plan the best way of structuring the data. The main requirement was that the data could be found and retrieved quickly. To achieve this, Lab Lateral designed functional screens that were logically laid out and easy for the user to understand. Improvements were made to the search facility so that a number of criteria, such as location, name, or specialisation could be used to find the required information. The system was integrated with Google Maps, allowing the end user to immediately see the location of suitable doctors. The interface was programmed to allow users to only see information, navigation and functionality that they were allowed to utilise, providing a better user experience and maintaining security.
Database Security
The system provided a flexible but robust way of securely managing users. Administrators were given the capability to set access permissions according to user groups. A small number of systems administrators were given access to all functions and were able to add, edit and remove users on the system.
The control over users of the system was supported by Digital DNA, the latest in applications security software, from our partners, Mobilegov. Each administrator was given their own unique identifying key for them to access the system. This gives the administrators two-factor, strong authentication ensuring a much greater level of protection for data than simply username and password.
It was imperative to secure the sensitive information stored within the system to prevent it from leaking out to unauthorised users. The data was fully encrypted when at rest and all data communications go over the HTTPS 128bit encrypted standard to prevent data interception.
The system was launched after undergoing rigorous in-house testing. All areas of the system have been checked for vulnerabilities to ensure the best levels of data security.
View all articles »
To subscribe to our RSS feed please click here.
