The ‘Ben’ System A Custom Virtual Learning Environment for NHS Student Doctors

The Barnsley Education Network (BEN) was developed in partnership with the education department at Barnsley Hospital as a digital solution to manage the learning journey of junior doctors and student caregivers. The aim was to replace manual processes with a more robust and secure system for tracking seminars, tutorials, and learning events.

At its core, BEN allows the education department to create and manage detailed student profiles. Each user has a secure login, enabling junior doctors to sign up for events, log attendance, and submit evidence directly through the system. This data is then validated by administrators and tied to individual accounts, creating a transparent record of educational progress.

The standout feature is a custom-built educational calendar, which lists relevant training events and integrates attendance logging. On the administrative side, BEN provides advanced reporting tools developed as a bespoke backend interface which is completely independent of the standard WordPress admin panel.

Although built on WordPress, BEN functions as a fully fledged web application, using the CMS primarily as a database and content framework. No off-the-shelf plugins or templates were used; every feature was engineered from scratch to ensure security, reliability, and scalability.

The system proved to be particularly valuable during the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling secure, private sharing of educational resources and event updates when in-person learning was disrupted. Today, BEN continues to support hundreds of junior doctors across Barnsley, Sheffield, and other NHS Trusts, standing as a clear example of how Make Do can transform WordPress into a powerful custom application platform.