Award nomination for paper-saving process

Gower College Swansea has been shortlisted in the Public Sector Paperless Awards 2020.

The College has been shortlisted in the Processes category for its work in reducing the paperwork involved in its student health disclosures and care plans procedures.

Historically, at the start of every academic year, all students were asked to complete a paper based medical form on which they inform the College of any medical or health conditions that may affect them whilst studying.

“Over the years this would equate to roughly 16,000 pieces of paper which really wasn’t ideal as the information they held could potentially be highly sensitive,” says Learner Experience and Wellbeing Manager, Tom Snelgrove. “Therefore, our Student Health Advisors, working alongside personal tutors and managers, began to investigate the introduction of an electronic automated system to capture this information instead.”

This set in motion a chain of events in which the Student Health Advisors and the College’s Integrated Systems team developed a new process that could ensure an automated, efficient, sustainable and safe working system.

Going forward, students will now complete an electronic health disclosure form which can be collated on a database which then automatically notifies the Student Health Advisors on the relevant campus. 

The results have so far surpassed the College’s original aims, with a higher percentage of successful completion and capture of learner data than anticipated.

“The process has made a significant positive impact on the Student Health Advisors’ time and resources,” adds Tom. “They are able to utilise their time far more effectively in creating the health care plans, instead of spending their time ‘paper shuffling.’ We have also found significant benefits in terms of costs and the new system has also had a positive impact in terms of information security and data protection.”

The Public Sector Paperless Awards are a unique celebration of outstanding public sector digital transformation and have grown to become one of the most anticipated annual awards nights to honour government innovation.