SCC has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) launch a free national PPE training website amid the on-going COVID-19 outbreak.
CUH needed to quickly provide critical training on how to correctly put on and remove Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) to protect them from contracting and spreading the virus. A new website was built prior to lockdown measures being implemented in the UK, hosted locally.
The website is a resource for the whole of the NHS on the practical aspects of PPE, developed in collaboration with experts in infectious diseases at CUH. To launch the website as quickly as possible, CUH asked SCC for support in architecting and deploying the infrastructure required to host this website in AWS.
Within 48 hours and at zero cost to CUH, SCC’s specialists from its Public Cloud Practice built and deployed the infrastructure, with teams in the UK and Vietnam volunteering their time outside of working hours to provide further development of the website to enable additional and enhanced features.
These included a CI/CD pipeline to allow agile continuous development and improvement of the website, and governance around change process, as well as providing project management to ensure we meet the tight timelines of launch.
The website, which details day-to-day scenarios encountered in a COVID-19 pandemic, such as what to do with equipment after they have become contaminated and how to move around on a ward wearing what PPE, is reflective of Public Health England (PHE) guidance and will be updated as new guidance is released. It delivers a simple multiple-choice question and has PHE resources such as the newly released tables covering all UK healthcare scenarios.
The SCC Public Cloud Practice team has remained engaged with the project throughout, and volunteered additional time each evening in the build-up to the launch to support on-going dev ops work undertaken by SCC Vietnam, with the team in Ho Chi Minh City working over a national holiday to ensure the site was launched on time. This was particularly significant due to the enhanced features and functionality being added on a daily basis, with SCC also supporting the back-end development of the website in additional to infrastructure architecture.
Dr Matthew Butler, Consultant Geriatrician, said: “The support from us, front-line health workers fighting COVID-19 and our local community, goes to other health workers around the country. Our aim is to do our bit to keep NHS staff safe. I want to extend my warmest heartfelt thanks; I will be forever grateful for all the efforts of SCC.”
In a statement supporting the website and highlighting its value, the Health and Safety Executive said: “Knowing what PPE to wear and having PPE in stock in this pandemic is only part of the picture; training staff in the correct use of PPE is equally vital.”
James Rigby, SCC Chief Executive, added: “This is one of many examples of SCC and other businesses in the UK and abroad coming together during the most challenging of times to support the fantastic work of our NHS – and I am particularly proud of this project due to the direct influence it will have on saving lives. We have taken all the necessary actions to protect our business and our people, so that SCC, as a critical provider of services, can keep our customers operational throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
