Heartbeat July 2018

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Improving our IT infrastructure CORPORATE & GENERAL NEWS The last few months have been very challenging for those of us who have to use IT to work and access patient information. Heartbeat caught up with Chief Informatics Officer, Mark Reynolds who explained more about the issues being faced by his team. “Our IT infrastructure is very complicated and runs on a network that needs significant work to bring it up to date so it is able to cope with the volumes of work on the system. Over the past few weeks we have been working with external advisors who have given us a clear set of actions we need to take to improve the performance of the network and create resilience. “It is encouraging as the expert recommendations already build on the plans we have had in place internally to help us resolve the issues. This is positive news as it allows us the opportunity to focus our work on getting things right before Unity is launched later this year. “I am confident we will start to see an improvement in our day to day use of IT. My team and I are very aware that colleagues require a modern infrastructure that works, with reliable Wi-Fi and equipment that works. And we are working hard to ensure this becomes the norm across the organisation.” Building confidence after the major IT incident in May The major incident in May was caused by a change to the system which led to a significant breakdown to the network. “As a result we are working more closely with clinical colleagues and operational teams to ensure this does not happen again,” said Mark. “A change process panel has been created to ensure checks and balances are in place for all updates and requests for a change to our IT network. To make it clear we are not stopping what we were doing previously, we now just need colleagues to follow a process in order for their request to be considered and acted upon.” The change panel meets every Tuesday and is chaired by Rachel Barlow, Chief IT Deployment Engineers, Leon James (left) and John Marks (right) assist Healthcare Assistant, Karen Mowatt-Shirley Operating Officer. Decisions are taken very quickly and outside of the meeting there is an opportunity to have urgent requests submitted through the informatics duty manager, who is able to request an emergency change to the panel (if appropriate). Following the May incident, the informatics team supported by operational colleagues carried out some walkthroughs across Sandwell to find out what the issues were. Informatics Service Manager, Suki Heer explained: “Doing the walkthroughs was very beneficial for us and the teams we visited. Colleagues were pleased to see us out and about and it is something we would definitely like to continue to do in future. “We were quite surprised to find that colleagues generally don’t report incidents with the help desk so the majority of issues we logged during the walkthroughs were completely new incidents for us. I would urge everyone to raise a ticket for all IT issues no matter how small - it is the only way we can help and resolve the issues colleagues are having.” The walkthroughs at Sandwell saw 136 initial tickets logged, of these 128 have been resolved and the team are working through the eight still outstanding. The majority of the tickets were related to not being able to connect to the network, wireless application (WAP) and iPad issues. Walkthroughs at City and Rowley Hospitals followed in June and July and have just been completed. The team are now working through the issues raised. Colleagues are urged to raise a ticket for all IT incidents on Connect or call the helpdesk on ext. 4050. Tickets are allocated a priority and response time as detailed in the table below. Priority Response time Resolution Critical 30 mins 4 hours Important 1 hour 8 hours Normal 4 hours 3 working days Low 5 hours 6 working days Service request ! Informatics Data – Date: 20 July 2018 875 OPEN INCIDENTS CRITICAL ALERTS 52 6 hours 20 working days The graphic below shows the latest IT performance overview at the time of printing Heartbeat. DAYS SINCE LAST OUTAGE: 2 Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals OLDEST INCIDENT OUTSTANDING December 2016 RESPONSE TIME TO HELPDESK AVERAGE: 1m 11s LONGEST: 17m NHS Trust 12
Unity – how ready are you? Later this year, a number of our clinical systems will change to Unity – our new electronic patient record that will unify clinical records enabling consistency of care. It has been calculated that 5,500 of us and counting will use Unity on a daily basis. If you are identified as a user of Unity, it will not be possible for you to conduct your role without it. Colleagues are being urged to take it upon themselves to learn how to use Unity and attend the training available. All teams have access to the Unity Readiness Checklist - a guide for you and your department to get yourselves ready for the new electronic patient record. This is an exciting time for us all, and we want to make sure we’re ready. The checklist has different sections, which contain a number of checks. The aim of the checklist is for you to work through each section, collect the checks, and show that you are ready for Unity. Sharon Reynolds, Informatics Matron leads the clinical informatics team which will play a huge role in supporting our teams in readiness for Unity. She said: “We are now in the readiness stage of Unity and colleagues who took part in the first dress rehearsal will know that it’s a great opportunity to get us all set for go-live. It’s important that teams use the readiness checklist and to also seek support from the clinical informatics team, work stream leads and Unity implementers who will regularly visit departments to provide the support necessary to help teams get ready. “I’ve been visiting ward teams and it is encouraging to see that many are seeing the value of Unity and are eager to start using it. Colleagues are looking forward to using real time information to make clinical decisions about the people in our care. Unity will certainly help to facilitate multidisciplinary working and improve patient experience and flow.” Getting ready for Unity should be a team effort – the checklist is an excellent way of engaging colleagues, stimulating discussion about Unity and starting to address people’s questions and concerns. It may not be possible to complete each check straight away – many are tied to particular phases of the project so may not be available immediately. The readiness checklist is available on Connect and teams also have a hard copy to keep. The checklist belongs to your department, store it somewhere safe. You may ask different team members to focus on a particular area or set up a small group to work through the checklist. Accountability for progress with readiness preparation and associated reporting sits with the ward/ department manager. Support is also available from the Unity implementation team, a group of colleagues assigned to each clinical area with the purpose of supporting the readiness effort. Working closely with the work stream leads and the clinical informatics team, their role is to inform and update, as well as act as a conduit for colleagues to raise issues of concern. CORPORATE & GENERAL NEWS Unity will be used by over 5,500 colleagues Keep an eye out for activities and events to help you get ready Coming soon to your area - Unity corners. Digital champions with support from ward sisters and matrons will be developing Unity corners – a new space to learn all about Unity and have an opportunity to use the Unity Play System (a dummy copy of the electronic patient record that you can safely practice on). Look out for Unity pop up demonstrations to learn more. Visit the Unity favourite fairs in September for a chance to log on and set up your favourite areas on the system. Further information about Unity or if you’d like to find out more about training visit Connect or email swbh.trustindigital@nhs.net. Information is also available from your group Unity implementer, clinical sponsor or digital champions in your area. The communications bulletin has news and updates on a regular basis. 13
Page 1 and 2: July 2018 Sandwell and West Birming
Page 3 and 4: Colleagues celebrate NHS 70 in styl
Page 5 and 6: Unity end user training - are you b
Page 7 and 8: Diversity and inclusion - the golde
Page 9 and 10: Colleagues come together to celebra
Page 11: To: Joanne Wright For doing so well
Page 16 and 17: Putting our waste to good use waste
Page 18 and 19: AMU team present at Birmingham Medi
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Page 22 and 23: Fiona says goodbye after 20 years a
Page 24 and 25: 24 News in brief from around our or
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Page 28: Events Diary August 2018 EVENT DATE

Heartbeat July 2018

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