NRHCC
Staff Deployment Database
The Northern Region Health Coordination Centre (NRHCC), was the COVID-19 response and vaccination team set up by the Northland, Waitematā, Auckland, and Counties Manukau District Health Boards. With the threat of the Omicron variant outbreak looming at the start of 2022, there was an urgent need for the creation of a robust, secure, cloud-based database for the sourcing and recruitment team to set up, coordinate and roster health workers onto shifts at the community testing and vaccination centres around the greater Auckland region. Without the right number of staff on site, the centres could not open, putting pressure on the whole network as the need for testing and vaccinating rapidly escalated, so the solution had to be fast and effective, whilst also being highly secure and reliable.
Our Solution
We built a database solution and securely imported data for existing health workers already in the system. We designed a simple and user-friendly front end to interact with the database and connected the solution to Microsoft Active Directory for managing log-ins.
We then integrated with a multi-text messaging service so that confirmation of shifts could be sent to health workers each evening. Any rejected shifts would automatically invite other suitable health workers who could accept shifts within the application, keeping the testing and vaccination centres fully-staffed and operational throughout the outbreak surge. Before full launch we also had Health Alliance perform a penetration test.
Our solution was so successful that it was further adapted post-outbreak to redeploy health workers back across the wider health system.
Technologies
- Hosting: AWS - EC2, S3 and RDS
- Backend: LAMP technology stack
- Frontend: HTML, CSS, Javascript
- Integrations: One NZ multiTXT Pro
"The guys at SHS were incredibly responsive when the Covid-19 Omicron outbreak hit New Zealand, quickly setting up a vital database solution to help us roster and coordinate our health workers. The platform they developed was so successful that we extended its use to redeploy health workers throughout our entire healthcare system post-outbreak."
Jenny Martin, Sourcing Lead, Northern Region Health Coordination Centre
