Poster: The West Midlands Evidence Repository (WMER) : a regional collaboration project / Gavin Moore, Imrana Ghumra, and Semanti Chakraborty (NHS)

The West Midlands Evidence Repository (WMER) was born from a pre-pandemic recognition by managers of Knowledge and Library Services (KLSs) of 8 NHS Trusts in the West Midlands region of the need for a repository. This was to replace existing provision, or recognition of national priorities or local needs to record, collect, and share research, as well as potential for sharing patient information leaflets or guidelines. Some managers and services had previous experience of repositories, as well as being part of a national pilot. WMER, however, represented a new start for all to work in collaboration to establish a new service. The consortium would enable sharing of both costs and experience.

Initially, different repository suppliers were investigated by the KLS that had had a long-established repository, taking on board the experience of the group from the national pilot. The Atmire Open Repository platform was chosen as it met the consortium’s needs and had a proven track record of other collaborative repositories in the NHS. Financing was taken on by one Trust and the on-boarding was led in partnership between that Trust and the Trust that had undertaken the initial investigation.

With the initial on-boarding completed and the test server set-up, the group took a step back to ensure they worked together as a collaborative going forward. Collaborative work between the KLSs was facilitated by the formal creation of two groups, a Managers Group for overall approval and financial decision making and an Operational Group handling the setup and administration of the repository for the consortium. The Operational Group is led by the service with most experience of managing repositories and the lead of it acts as liaison between the two groups, with each group having representation from the eight organisations. Learning from other regional collaborations the Future NHS site was used as a collaborative workspace and Teams as the main means of communication.

The setup of the repository was completed on time after three months. There was initially a steep learning curve for all, especially the Operational Group who undertook this process. The group identified key metadata and metadata standards for the repository, including the use of ORCIDs and the use of Wessex Classification as a controlled vocabulary. The setup process was facilitated by the collaborative nature of the project as the variety of experience in the group was a great benefit. It should be noted support from the suppliers was specifically related to technical support only.

The collaborative nature of the project also allowed work to be shared, and tasks were given to members to be undertaken independently. However, a downside of collaborative projects is that decisions can take longer to be inclusive...

Poster presented at the Metadata & Discovery Group Conference & RDA Day (6th - 8th Sept 2023 at IET Austin Court, Birmingham)

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