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Heartbeat: Full dress rehearsal of Unity coming in September

July 31, 2018

A run through of all activities that will take place during go-live of Unity will start on Monday 10 September.

This will be the full dress rehearsal (FDR) of Unity which will identify any issues ahead of go-live.

Be sure to check out the above short clip of Emma Hibbs, Advanced Physiotherapist and Hannah Foxley, Advanced Occupational Therapist sharing their experiences of going through the first dress rehearsal of Unity held in April and what they’re doing to prepare for the new electronic patient record.

This will be the full dress rehearsal (FDR) of Unity which will identify any issues ahead of go-live. Heartbeat caught up with Shafiq Ullah, Unity Cutover Manager who explained more.

“My role as cutover manager is to make sure that we have everything in place ready for when we cut over from the old systems to Unity. The full dress rehearsal will review, assess and measure both the cutover plan and the electronic patient record both technically and operationally prior to go-live.”

A selection of operational areas across our sites will take part in FDR activities, replicating the steps that will be carried out during cutover. These will include activities like:

  • Logging into Unity
  • Entering patient alerts
  • Allocating patients into beds
  • Managing patient movements
  • Entering clinical information.

Shafiq said: “FDR is an opportunity for our operational teams supported by our digital champions and the Unity project team, to use Unity and prepare for the cutover. Additionally any issues identified during FDR will be escalated for resolution and the plan and logistics updated and documented for the cutover and go-live.”

The Unity dress rehearsal will ensure that each role will be able to provide patient care in their respective roles. The first dress rehearsal of Unity took place in April and was well received by colleagues who commented that they appreciated the opportunity to use Unity in a live setting.

Emma Hibbs, Team Lead, Rapid Response Therapy Service said: “Going through the first dress rehearsal was a good opportunity to see Unity in action. As part of the rapid response team, I work in the emergency department and AMU and currently have to access different systems to look at patient information. It’s great to see that this will all change when we go-live with Unity as we will have a single point of access for all patient records. This means the information will be timely and accurate which is a positive thing for our patients.”

Lis Hesk, Gynaecology Matron added: “Having taken part in the first dress rehearsal of Unity it made so much sense to me and the team to follow a real patient through the pathway from admission to discharge. Unity ensures patient records are maintained in a standardised way and allows the whole team to be involved in the care of patients.”

During FDR a number of users including nurses/midwives, healthcare assistants and ward clerks will work on Unity while their colleagues will be carrying out their usual processes on our current systems.

Those taking part in FDR will be fully briefed beforehand. If you are taking part in FDR it is advised that you attend Unity end user training before 17 September. FDR will take place on the following dates:

  • 10 September – for technical activities, with operational activities from;
    • 17 September – Sandwell ED, Sandwell inpatient wards
    • 18 September – City Hospital ED, City Hospital inpatient wards, Community inpatient areas
    • 19 September – Outpatient areas
    • 20–21 September – wrap up

For more information email swbh.trustindigital@nhs.net