Soft launch successful

The Recruitment team at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have successfully completed the first NHS trust registration to the NHS DSP service.

What is a soft launch?

By registering a single NHS trust ahead of the first Wave of registrations, the NHS DSP team can see the process applied to the place where it will be used, i.e. an NHS trust's IT network.

Any issues will be highlighted and resolved, meaning the trusts involved in Wave 1 will experience a smoother registration process.

Building on firm foundations

The NHS DSP has used the registration process from the COVID-19 Digital Staff Passport (C-19 DSP) as a benchmark. 

The C-19 DSP process enabled 217 NHS trusts to register at pace, featuring:

1. An offline document listing resources required
2. Two information packs for Information Governance and Recruitment teams to review and approve
3. An online process to submit the NHS trust registration application

Registration improvements

The NHS DSP has streamlined the process, by building the offline and online components into a bespoke digital portal.

The Implementation Lead has 24/7 access to the portal, to enable progression at a pace that suits the registering trust.

The portal also permits the Lead to progress and pause registration section by section, when feedback and approval is provided by other trust Leads, such as Information Governance and Information Technology.

In the background, the NHS DSP team has visibility of how each NHS trust is progressing with their registration. If a trust is not progressing with registration, the NHS DSP can get in touch to offer support.

Initial feedback

Shelley Hogan, the Medical HR Manager at Sheffield (and NHS DSP Implementation Lead), fed back on her registration experience.

"The registration process itself is quick and easy, with only a few clicks. The process highlighted the importance of using the information packs prior to registering, to ensure you can whizz through the steps with ease and confidence. The packs are a fantastic tool!"

The NHS DSP team closely followed Shelley's registration. Only minor issues were recorded and improvements will be put in place to enhance usability of the process.