Healthcare Job Portal

Digitising medical staffing in Wales with a healthcare job portal

Discover how we helped our client transition their system from another development partner to our team. We helped expand and refine their platform by introducing major modifications and providing ongoing development support, resulting in a tool used nationwide by both practice managers and locum GPs to quickly and easily fill placements.

About the client

Our client, GP Wales, is an online service provider that connects general practitioners (GPs) seeking placements with medical practices needing to fill locum shifts. Founded by experienced GPs and funded by NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP), Train Work Live and the Welsh Government, GP Wales aims to digitise the healthcare placement process in Wales.

Industry

Healthcare

Location

UK

Engagement period

June 2022 - Ongoing

Technologies

PHP/Laravel, Vue.js, MariaDB, AWS

Business challenge

Operational inefficiencies in Locum placements

The process of matching GPs with practice shifts has traditionally been a manual process, often relying on word-of-mouth recommendations and paper-based communications.

GP Wales was founded to digitise this process and to make it easy for GPs to search and apply for relevant vacancies.

The GP Wales platform has 2 aspects:

Job posting: enables practices to list available jobs, providing a platform for candidates to find and apply for relevant positions.

Locum management: allows practices to advertise available shifts for locum GPs, facilitating the entire application process for temporary positions.

 

The platform was initially developed by another software service provider. However, several challenges emerged that hindered its effectiveness:

  • Limited support bandwidth: The original service provider did not have enough capacity to manage the support and maintenance demands of the platform.
  • Availability of service provider: The original vendor was not responsive enough to meet GP Wales’ needs for quick updates and fast responses.

Faced with these challenges, GP Wales reached out to GoodCore to expand and refine the Locum Hub Wales platform adding new features and providing ongoing development support. 

Business challenge

Project goals

The project entailed the following requirements:

  • Smoothly takeover the project from the previous vendor, acquiring both technical and functional knowledge of the GP Wales platform.
  • Introduce new rules and criteria for data entry to the job posting feature, enhancing efficiency and streamlining processes.

  • Modernise the UI/UX to make the application more intuitive and accessible, applying contemporary design principles.

  • Provide regular updates and maintenance to ensure continuous platform stability, performance improvements, and timely updates.

Product development challenges and solutions

Challenge #1: Inadequate documentation and complex codebase

The project handover was challenging due to the lack of sufficient documentation and the complexity of a large codebase. This made it difficult to fully grasp the functionality and structure of the existing system, complicating the initial stages of the transition.

Solution: Inadequate documentation and complex codebase

The project handover was challenging due to the lack of sufficient documentation and the complexity of a large codebase. This made it difficult to fully grasp the functionality and structure of the existing system, complicating the initial stages of the transition.

Challenge #2: Inadequate documentation and complex codebase

The project handover was challenging due to the lack of sufficient documentation and the complexity of a large codebase. This made it difficult to fully grasp the functionality and structure of the existing system, complicating the initial stages of the transition.

Solution: Database upgrade and historical data preservation

To address this, we updated the existing database to support the new rules and criteria for data entry. This included making changes to the database structure, adding new data fields, and updating existing ones to meet the new requirements. Throughout this process, we carefully ensured that all historical data remained retrievable, allowing continued access to previous job listings.

Product development challenges and solutions

Challenge #1: Inadequate documentation and complex codebase

The project handover was challenging due to the lack of sufficient documentation and the complexity of a large codebase. This made it difficult to fully grasp the functionality and structure of the existing system, complicating the initial stages of the transition.

Solution: Inadequate documentation and complex codebase

The project handover was challenging due to the lack of sufficient documentation and the complexity of a large codebase. This made it difficult to fully grasp the functionality and structure of the existing system, complicating the initial stages of the transition.

Like what you see?

We provide end-to-end software development, technology consultancy, and staff augmentation to help move your product and team forward.