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Heartbeat: Over 150 colleagues get set for the February dress rehearsal of Unity

January 10, 2019

26 clinical areas are set to take part in the February dress rehearsal of Unity scheduled to take place from Monday 11 February 2019.

This dress rehearsal is a complete run through of all activities that will take place when we go live with Unity. It is used to identify issues and drive out risk and ensure we’re ready for go-live.

For the selected operational teams and 154 clinical colleagues, it’s an opportunity to verify that Unity works in a business as usual context.

The dress rehearsal is made up of two stages that are performed in a single window covering a three week period: (1) Technical activities and (2) Operational activities and simulated go-live. This is then followed by time to resolve the issues before moving to an agreed launch date.

The sequence of the three weeks is as follows:

  • Week 1 – Technical work to ensure that the IT systems integrate, downstream system testing and simulating technical go-live.
  • Week 2 – Starting Monday 11 February clinical teams will carry out operational work to use the system in a live setting. In practice this means a small number of users dual keying between current systems and Unity. (Normal work continues as usual on current systems, with activity then being replicated on Unity).
  • Week 3 – Focused work on areas of concern and issue resolution, and the reports team completing analysis and rework.

Shafiq Ullah, Unity Cutover Manager explained more: “My role as cutover manager is to make sure that we have everything in place ready for when we move from the old systems to Unity. The February dress rehearsal will involve colleagues across many professions including health care assistants, ward clerks, nurses, doctors, porters, pharmacists and healthcare scientists all coming together over a period of five days to test Unity and ensure it is fit for purpose.

“During the dress rehearsal support will be provided by 15 staff (including executives) from Cerner, the company that has developed Unity. Our senior leaders will also be on hand along with the informatics team and 61 colleagues from the Unity project team.”

There is much for all of us to do within a very short time and everyone is urged to play their part.

The Unity project team has already been in contact with the teams selected to be part of the dress rehearsal regarding details of the resources required.

For everyone else, please ensure you are up to date with the Unity end user training. If you have attended training, keep your knowledge fresh by using the Unity Play System. If you haven’t had training, then please speak to your line manager about booking on as soon as possible.