Welcome to the LHO PHORMS website. PHORMS stands for public health online resource management System.

A resource on this site means anything that you may be interested in. It could be a document, or a spreadsheet containing data or a presentation. But it could also be an event, or information on an individual. The term resource will be used throughout the system and the user help.

The main difference between this site and the old one is that it is now database driven. When you want to search for resources, the search term you enter is used to interrogate a database. That database stores information about each and every resource found on this site.

Databases held at four other public health observatories (EMPHO, ERPHO, SEPHO, YHPHO) hold information on resources in exactly the same way. The databases have been set up to be able to communicate with each other. This means that users can choose to interrogate five databases at once and retrieve a much fuller list of resources than before. This would be an interoperable search.

The way information about resources has been stored is in accordance with Government standards (link to e-GMS). The way the databases communicate with each other is in accordance with the Government’s interoperability framework (link to e-GIF).

The five PHOs intend to become interoperable with the other Public Health Observatories by the end of 2005.

All resources have been classified using the National Public Health language. There is also a built in thesaurus so again, searching should be much more powerful than before. For example, if a user enters the word ‘overweight’ it will also search on related terms such as ‘body mass index’ and ‘obesity’.

If you have a resource that you think should be on the site, there is functionality for you to send it to us. You need to register first. To submit a resource, you need to provide information, via a series of ‘Wizards’ about that resource that will then be interrogated by other users in their search for it. For example, provide a title, a description, some keywords, a creator and a contributor. You have options to submit just basic information (use Wizard Lite) or the full set of terms that would completely classify the resource. If you submit the resource with partial information, our web administrator will get in touch with you to ensure we complete it correctly. Don’t be intimidated! As you submit a resource, the help function will provide guidance at each step. For further help please click on the following link: How to upload a resource to the LHO website

In addition to submitting resources, registering as a user will enable access to discussion groups and other appropriately restricted information. In particular, this includes the ‘Network’ function - an address book of public health professionals with their interests and skills. We encourage all our users to register.