In 2017, Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) tendered for an external review of the National Self-Harm Registry Ireland. Professor David Gunnell of the University of Bristol approached Research IT during the tender process for help with the information systems aspects of the review. Jon Hallett, Research IT’s systems administrator, worked with Professor Gunnell on the tender response, providing detail on how we would assess the Registry’s systems for attributes such as suitability, sustainability, and information architecture.

The University of Bristol won the contract, and in February 2018 Jon traveled with Professor Gunnell to the Registry’s offices at University College Cork, where Jon worked with Registry staff in a series of review meetings over two days. On return to Bristol, Jon contributed the technical sections of the final report which was presented to the HSE. In the report, he made recommendations on the future direction of the Registry’s key data collection application and on areas such as encryption, the GDPR, information security audit, supplier relationships, and critical staff.

Professor Gunnell commented “Jon did a great job from my perspective. His input to the review and report writing was timely and constructive, just what I was looking for.”