MesslyID - Using blockchain for safe, fast verification of healthcare workers' ID

"MesslyID will be a distributed ledger (DL) that enables fast, secure, and highly automated presentation of a healthcare worker's credentials, including employment status, work history, prior education, and training. This solution will remove a significant pain-point from NHS administration, decreasing the NHS's operating costs and increasing the quality of patient care. This project is significantly ahead of all other approaches, using cutting-edge distributed ledger technology. This innovation will sit alongside Messly Locum, our temporary staffing solution.

No DL credential repository is currently in use within the UK, although early steps have been taken internationally by companies including Sovrin and Shocard. Current solutions within the NHS involve lengthy and unsafe reviews of paper and copy documents and lookups to static databases, and storage of information in spreadsheets or CRM systems. This application of DL technology would represent a significant step change in the SOA within the UK and internationally. We intend to initially drive this innovation within the UK, before considering international expansion.

Direct economic benefits for NHS trusts are generated by reducing their spend on the agency provision of healthcare workers. Secondary benefits come from (1) access to a wider pool of healthcare workers by reducing the time from application to work by over 80%, (2) improved patient care as a downstream impact, (3) the drastic (90%+) reduction of identity fraud and (4) a reduction of staff time spent on manual onboarding processes, which we calculate to be over 70%.

In MesslyID, workers will make claims regarding their work history or status (e.g. criminal record, education record, GMC status) which are verified by the relevant body (e.g. DBS, university, GMC). Verified claims are added to the DL, where they cannot be adjusted except by the original verifier. Trusts will access this record through Messly to check workers' credentials. This is high speed, high trust and low cost.

Our project outputs will include an operational framework allowing for the use of distributed ledger technology within the NHS formed through our POC studies, the construction of the network of supporters at all levels of the NHS required to implement this solution, and a deep understanding of a fully customer-validated technical architecture. The validation of this framework would prove that the development of a commercialized form of MesslyID is possible and provide the roadmap to that commercialisation."