NHS Scotland manages a national vaccination program

NHS Scotland sought to build a system to manage a national vaccination program. With ServiceNow, the organization integrated national data with local GP records to create a consistent, dynamic workflow—protecting citizens in the fight against COVID-19.

Managing healthcare for millions of citizens
NHS National Services Scotland supports approximately 140,000 NHS Scotland staff who work across 14 territorial NHS boards, seven Special NHS boards and one public health body. Each NHS board brings healthcare – free at the point of delivery. It has been working tirelessly in the battle against COVID-19 and is managing the vaccine roll-out for Scotland’s more than four million citizens.

Creating an integrated vaccination workflow
The goal is to complete the roll-out quickly, but the program needs to be managed coherently. The most vulnerable demographics will be vaccinated as a priority, but NHS Scotland wants to allow for a degree of flexibility. It wants to allow vaccination centers to create local stand-by lists, and for citizens to request individual time slots. For this to happen it needs data and digital workflows to be integrated, smart, and flexible.

Building a system in six weeks
NHS National Services Scotland is already an established user of ServiceNow. In recent years it has expanded its ServiceNow footprint from IT Service Management, through HR and finance. During COVID-19, workflows have been built on the Now Platform to manage PPE tracking, contact tracing, and care home testing. The new vaccination management system was built in just six weeks, two weeks ahead of schedule. The build included NHS National Services Scotland engineers and ServiceNow experts. Capgemini, Atos, and KPMG all supported at different stages of Scotland’s COVID-19 response.

Delivering a national progress report
The system establishes a comprehensive yet flexible solution for the scheduling and recording of the national vaccine program. It underpins Scotland’s efforts to have the most vulnerable members of society vaccinated within 12 weeks. The system gathers accurate data from local GPs, especially created vaccination centers, and the regional health boards. It provides a national picture of progress, with the means to explore local data sets.

Adding new functionality
The flexibility of the Now Platform allows NHS National Services Scotland to develop and deploy new functionality as the vaccination roll-out progresses. It is planning a dedicated portal for unpaid carers to request a vaccine, anticipates integrating social media feeds to communicate with 18-to-25-year olds, and may allow local vaccination centers to operate 24/7. All these new workflows will be integrated on the Now Platform.

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