Unity Communications Bulletin Go-live Fortnight: Issue 10

September 28, 2019

Going into our first weekend with Unity, so it is important we continue to communicate issues and raise concerns.  Last night was the least busy on our IT helpdesk so far, which could suggest that problems are being ironed out.  Well over 2,000 calls have been closed with issues resolved.  The hub teams are in work this weekend and looking to tackle some of our 570 remaining tickets.

Safety alert: Unity

All week we have been emphasising the need to use bar code scanners to identify patients for prescription.  The steps below are what you need to do.  Last night one of our patients received IV antibiotics in error after the barcode was NOT used, and they shared a name with another patient on the ward.

Both patients are doing well but it illustrates again the safety gain we need from using the scanners.  Please do your best this weekend to use the scanners, and next week we will begin to publish shift by shift data for each area on use of this system.  Yesterday we did not use scanners 461 times when dispensing medication.

And remember too:  If you can’t find the medications that you’re looking for use the Advanced Search button.  Don’t just free-text as this means drug interactions can’t be checked.  An important safety feature!

Extra training and support with Unity

FY1 training sessions on Tuesday 1 October and Wednesday 2 October will now include special Unity focused teaching as well as the planned clinical content.

Today (Saturday 28 September), 2pm-4pm there is a CapMan drop-in session for any interested colleagues in the conference room, Sandwell Education centre.  Feel free come along and get your queries answered by experts.

At City, the floorwalkers and training teams will be working with all teams especially colleagues in BMEC.

Thank you – keep up the hard work

85% of all required VTE assessments took place correctly yesterday.

Even though the Trust standard in our Safety Plan is 100% this performance represents our best since Go-Live.  Congratulations to five wards who managed 100%: Priory 2, D11, Priory 5, Lyndon 5, and Lyndon 3.

The positives of Unity

You should continue to talk to super users and floor walkers to raise issues.  If you have a specific safety incident that has caused you concern do use an IR1.  Ext. 4050 remains the main place to get IT related issued logged or concerns raised, including requests for more training. 

Meanwhile, we continue to find examples of really positive experiences of Unity.  Here’s a few recent ones:

Farooq Wandroo, consultant haematologist: “It has been fun, I like Unity”  

Dominic LeGros, Workstream Lead: “Remember we document inefficiently by habit.  The transition to digital takes a lot of thought but when we get to grips with #digitalnursing we will have more time to do what we love, care for people.”

Sabrina Ffrench, staff Nurse from surgical day unit at Sandwell Hospital: “The positives with Unity are that it gives you the alerts and flags that remind you what you need to do. This is really good for nurses who are on the wards as it gives you a quick reminder of what is outstanding. It also saves the trees – my notes used to be pages long! It’s like everything, once you get your head round it, we’ll be fine.”

Seventh winner of shout-out competition

Today’s shout-out winner is Tiffany Jones, Lead Nurse Colposcopist who was nominated by Jean Whitehouse, receptionist in colposcopy.

Nominator Jean said: “Tiffany was here early on Monday morning (6am) to make sure everything was okay for go-live on Unity. She was on hand to help everyone even though she was in clinics throughout the day. A fantastic manager that always goes more than the extra mile.”

Congratulations Tiffany and well done Jean! You will both receive Love to Shop vouchers valued at £10 each.

Don’t forget to submit a shout-out via Connect when you notice anyone going the extra mile to help their colleagues with Unity.