Tusla’s new National Integrated Information System goes Live Creating a Nationally Connected Social Work System for Child Protection and Welfare

 Tusla – Child and Family Agency have launched a new National Childcare Information System (NCCIS) which marks a significant milestone in child protection for the agency and the country. For the first time in the history of the State all 17 social work areas can access one integrated, up to date information system to manage child protection and welfare cases.

The new system, which has been piloted, tested and rolled out nationally, will ultimately improve the quality, safety, responsiveness and delivery of child protection services by supporting practice around the country, and capturing critical data on children who are the subject of a child protection or welfare referral to provide a timely, robust and effective service. Information will include details of screening, preliminary enquiries, assessments (initial or other) and the case notes.

Benefits of the new national integrated system include:

  • Replace current manual systems and various ICT systems which the agency inherited on establishment.
  • Improve quality and efficiency through improved sharing of information between relevant professionals.
  • Future availability of appropriate management information to enable informed decisions at both strategic and operational levels.
  • Accurate and up to date activity recording, thereby facilitating service planning and monitoring.
  • Enable information to be grouped, sorted, manipulated, analysed and listed.
  • Simplify caseload review mechanisms.
  • Enable controlled access to information and services being provided to children referred to Tusla.

Speaking about this significant development Gerard Brophy, Chief Social Worker, Tusla said: “The National Childcare Information System is assisting social workers around the country in providing a consistent, appropriate service to children who are the subject of a child protection or welfare referral. This national index system allows appropriate access to details of screening, preliminary enquiries, assessments (initial or other) and the case notes for each child or client of the service.

For example, this is particularly useful where a child has moved from one part of the country to another as it allows social workers in each area to see the current status of the child’s situation and to act accordingly, with immediate effect and putting the child first in each situation”.

Commenting on the system, Fergal Collins, Head of the Project Management Office, Tusla said: “This new integrated system replaces numerous paper based and legacy ICT systems which the agency inherited on establishment and will improve consistency across the country by ensuring social work teams have access to up to date, relevant information on the child. The system was rolled out using a strong project management approach where progress was scheduled and tracked and risks and issues managed accordingly. The system was first piloted and then area by area scheduled in for implementation nationally, with secure access. The Programme Management Office coordinated the activities of a large number of internal and external resources such as the HSE and our chosen vendor Careworks who all contributed to the success of the rollout. Training was provided to over 2,000 staff and over 1,000 laptops were rolled out to ensure mobility for the users”.

The introduction of NCCIS which has been available nationally since the 9th of July will play a significant part in improving consistency, driving Tusla’s reform programme and ultimately working towards Tusla’s vision of ‘An Ireland that is committed to the safety and well-being of children, young people and families’.

Comments are closed.