In this video, Manny discusses why he became interested in digital credentials. He also speaks to the influence medical ethics has had on his journey. In 2015, he was training to become an infectious disease specialist. Manny was the most senior clinician on site in the evenings, in charge of about 500 beds.
Manny kept getting called by, and about, a temporary agency doctor every night. Manny and other medical staff had questions about this doctor’s skills, qualifications, and the decisions he was making. But there were shortages and the hospital needed to fill the gap. Manny was so discouraged by seeing an unqualified physician slip through the cracks, that he was about to quit his career, but instead he determined to do something about it.
Serendipitously, Manny came across self-sovereign identity (SSI) at the same time and, as I said, spoke at the launch of Sovrin Foundation. Over the next several years, Manny and his partners worked to create an SSI solution that the National Health Service in the UK could use to instantly verify the identity and skills of temporary and permanent clinical staff. There were three primary problems that this solves:
- Patient Safety - Verifying the identity and skills of temporary and permanent clinical staff.
- Burden on Clinical Staff - Admin time for repeated identity and pre-employment checks.
- Organizational Risk and Operational Inefficiencies - Failure of manual checks. Time and cost to onboard healthcare staff.
Manny’s first thought had been to use a traditional, administrative scheme using usernames and passwords. But he saw the problems with that. He realized a digital credential was a better answer. And his journey into self-sovereign identity commenced.