ICT Database Administrator

Background

The NTPF is a corporate body with functions and responsibilities as set out under Statutory Instrument 179 - National Treatment Purchase Fund (Establishment) Order, 2004 and the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act (2009).

Its key functions are:

• Arranging for the provision of hospital treatment to classes of persons determined by the Minister.
• Collecting, collating and validating information on persons waiting for public hospital treatment.
• Agreeing pricing arrangements with private & voluntary nursing homes under the Nursing Homes Support Scheme.
• Furnishing advice to the Minister for Health on related issues.
• Performing any other function assigned by the Minister for Health, since July 2012 this includes responsibility for the publication of Public Hospital waiting lists.

In carrying out its functions, the NTPF works closely with the Department of Health, the HSE, acute public hospitals and private nursing homes across the health system.

The ICT Function

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Department plays a key role in the delivery of the NTPF strategic objectives. Broadly speaking, this entails the collection, collation and reporting of hospital inpatient, day case and outpatient waiting list numbers together with ensuring the availability, security and confidentiality of our ICT systems. The Department manages this through three teams: 1) Data Analysis and Development, 2) Operations, Infrastructure and Security and 3) Data Quality and Testing.

The Role

As the NTPF continues to expand its operations, the demands on the IT Operations Team and the systems that they manage have also increased.

With the addition of Radiology Diagnostic reporting and expanded reporting for HSE Health Regions, the demands on the NTPF Database Infrastructure will continue to increase. This requires specialised skills to pro-actively manage and optimise performance and ensure full availability of data on an ongoing basis.

It is expected that the current volume of 56 million patient records processed per annum will increase by 40 to 50% with the addition of Radiology Diagnostics reporting. This volume requires pro-active, skilled database management to mitigate against the risks of poor performance and data unavailability.

The NTPF PTR2 database infrastructure has grown massively over the last 3 years and a 40-50% increase is projected with the addition of the Radiology Diagnostics waiting lists. These increases have had an effect on the performance of the database and while improvements are constantly being implemented, the current ICT team do not possess specialised skills in this area. A qualified, specialized DBA is required to maintain and improve performance and security levels of this critically important resource.

The responsibilities of ICT Database Administrator within the ICT Team in the NTPF include:

• Install and maintain the performance of database servers both on-prem and in Azure.
• Develop processes for optimizing database security.
• Set and maintain database standards.
• Manage database access.
• Performance tuning of database systems.
• Install, upgrade, and manage database applications.
• Diagnose and troubleshoot database errors.
• Recommend and implement emerging database technologies.
• Create and manage database reports, visualizations, and dashboards.
• Create automation for repeating database tasks.
• Be available for on-call support as needed.
• Support the ICT Support team in standard IT Support tasks.
• Carry out any other relevant duties which may be assigned from time to time by the National Treatment Purchase Fund.

Note: The functions and responsibilities assigned to this position are based on the current requirements of the NTPF. These requirements may change in line with changes in the roles, objectives or business requirements of the organisation.