Overseeing operational readiness and business change

July 22, 2019

As Business Change Manger for the Unity programme, I would like to share my experience and some of the activities you should expect to see over the coming weeks as we get ready to embrace our new electronic patient record (EPR).

Introducing Unity is a huge change for the Trust. Thousands of people are altering their working patterns and processes at the same time. Although the pain of undergoing change can be frustrating, and will temporarily affect productivity across the organisation, this is normal and to be expected.

We have been working hard to identify where these constraints will occur and mitigate against them. This will give us the best chance of maintaining our quality of patient care, as well as meeting our performance and financial targets.

Departments that routinely manage their patient activity in real time, with a small backlog to be managed within set time periods (e.g. clinic patients whose e-outcome forms have not been completed), often struggle to cope in the period immediately after go-live. As such it is essential to reduce clinic activities down to a manageable level (40 per cent) before go-live.

We have also been busy identifying where additional staff will be required to manage activity during the cutover and early live support periods. Cutover is where the current systems are switched off and the new EPR is switched on. Early live support comes immediately after go-live and usually lasts for two weeks. This is where staff will be getting used to Unity and may require additional support to ensure they are up to speed.

Digital champions and super users are a critical part of the Trust’s approach to staff development and go-live effectiveness. There will be digital champions on every shift and super users in a supernumerary capacity in each department. They will have received additional training on Unity and will be familiar with the local workflows to be used post go-live. Digital champions and super users will reduce the number of external floorwalkers we need to recruit and help to keep knowledge of the system in house.

It is important that digital champions and super users are confident in using the system so that they can guide and encourage others, particularly during times of stress and uncertainty which will inevitably happen in the first few days. They will form the first line of support during go-live and beyond. It’s been great to see so many attending training and really taking to the role.

Unity will affect most of our workforce. Many of the current standard operating procedures have had to be replaced or updated to reflect these new ways of working. It’s important that we all work together to get ready for Unity and make the most of the benefits it will bring.

#Hellomynameis William and I’m the Business Change Manager for the Unity programme

#Unityiscoming