Reducing NHS staff onboarding from 12 days to hours through distributed ledger technology
Brief description
The NHS employs 1.4 million people across the UK, with over half requiring extensive credential verification. Traditional document verification processes created significant delays and revenue losses for hospitals, agencies, and staff during critical staffing shortages.
What it is
A distributed ledger technology platform that enables healthcare professionals to upload, digitise, and share their credentials securely across the NHS ecosystem. The blockchain-based credential verification system allows staff to create fraud-resistant digital certificates once, then share them with multiple employers without repeated verification processes.
How and why
The platform operates on a write-once-share-many principle where candidates upload their documents to a DLT system that ensures non-fungible certification. Only document owners can access their data until they grant permission to third parties such as hospitals, agencies, or government representatives. This approach eliminates the traditional 12-day verification cycle that involved manual collection, scanning, and verification of 20-35 documents per candidate. The system maintains the highest security standards expected in healthcare while dramatically reducing administrative overhead for all stakeholders.
Outcomes
- Reduced onboarding time by 50-75% for platform users
- Eliminated 100% of re-scanning costs for repeat applications
- Prevented revenue losses of £2,000-5,000 per day for hospitals during staff shortages
- Maintained fraud-resistant documentation through blockchain technologyEnabled scalable integration across multiple NHS organisations and agencies
