The Scottish Government has launched an app for healthcare and care home staff to obtain patient information when carrying out vaccinations against Covid-19.
Named the Vaccination Management Tool, it has been developed by NHS Education for Scotland in partnership with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Lothian and NHS Fife, NHS National Services Scotland and Public Health Scotland.
It was piloted in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Lothian to assist with the winter flu vaccination programme.
The tool works on PCs, tablets and smartphones, enabling the vaccinators to see if it is an individual’s first or second dose and which of the vaccines to be made available has been administered.
It can send the data to GP systems and collect information that will feed into research on the effectiveness of the different vaccines.
Supporting staff
NHS Education for Scotland chief executive Stewart Irvine said: “Delivering a national vaccine programme is a huge undertaking.
“We are trying to make things as easy to use as possible for the staff who have to manage these large numbers of people. That’s in terms of planning their workflows, being able to work flexibly in all kinds of locations, and in providing a steady stream of data to help national planners.
“With tools like these, we are building integrated systems which remove additional burdens from hard-pressed health and care staff - allowing them to do what they do best.”
Scott Hanley, immunisation programme manager at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “The fact that it is web based also gives much more flexibility in who can use it - which gives us greater flexibility. And using a mobile tablet will help ensure patients are processed quicker on arrival at sites and will reduce the possibility of queues building up.”
Image from iStock, Ridofranz
