Secure form filling from home frees social workers for
client contact
Swindon Borough Council is running a pilot project in which
social workers use wireless tablet PCs to input data remotely. The
aim is to improve security of data and reduce the amount of
overtime worked by assessment staff.
The trial involves the social work department using tablet PCs to
input assessment data about young people, straight into the
council's database. This can be done from the social worker's home
or in the field, with data passing through a secure Citrix remote
access system.
The council is an early adopter of Citrix Access Suite 4.0, the
latest version of Citrix's thin client software architecture
previously called Metaframe.
The data is stored on an Oracle database, called Swift, which was
built by technology partner Anite.
The council uses an electronic version of the single assessment
process - a long form that social workers and other health care and
medical professionals are required by the Department of Health to
complete.
As well as tablet PCs, the system uses wireless 3G cards, enabling
staff to file the electronic forms quickly from external
locations.
"Now social workers can use a tablet PC to read information back to
the client while they are with them, and see if it is correct,"
said David Titcombe, the council's ICT strategy and project manager
for social services.
Titcombe added that social workers file between two and five
assessments a day, and the tablet PC system has reduced the time
they spend in the office, saving them from having to come in late
in the evening to complete their paperwork.
The council currently has five 3G cards and several tablet PCs. "We
have 240 staff that we can give them to, including 149 qualified
social workers," said Titcombe. Swindon has 1,300 staff in social
services alone.
He added that the existing paper-based and online form systems have
had problems. For example, some social workers have not had the
time or the means to complete a form at the point of assessment or
within office hours.
More problems have arisen when they have had to take forms home, or
complete them later, as there is a danger they may forget important
information. Also, staff completing forms online from home via
insecure PCs is a problem because of the sensitive nature of the
data, said Titcombe.
