Barnsley Hospital NHS FT’s latest board meeting has highlighted progress on a nursing documentation review to digitise 50 percent of paper forms, implementing e-consent, speech recognition, and automation projects, its procurement of a patient flow system, as well as considering whether an upgrade of the EPR to ensure full functionality is possible.
Progress against the trust’s objectives for 2024-25 is represented alongside a RAG rating, with innovation rated as “green” to demonstrate “significant progress”, and plans outlined to continue to identify and pilot innovations that meet the needs of the trust, and to foster links with research and innovation functions. Digital is rated as amber, signifying the pause placed on strategy whilst awaiting outcomes of a Rotherham Partnership, a joint analysis report “to inform the strategy for final publishing”.
As part of the trust’s digital agenda, key aims and milestones included undertaking a nursing documentation review to digitise 50 percent of paper forms; committing NHS Frontline Digitisation funding to implement paper to digital, e-consent, speech recognition, and automation projects; using Power BI to support self-service and improve forecasting, planning and intelligence; procuring a patient flow tracking system; and using robotic process automation to “improve automation of recruitment processes”.
According to the update, a full review of nursing paperwork has been started with implementation of Nursing Documentation Council, and a plan is in place. The trust is also reported to be “on track to commit funding” from the NHS Frontline Digitisation programme, completing speech recognition, e-consent, and paper to digital resources; whilst the procurement process for a patient flow tracking system has not yet been completed, pending “response from supplier for clarification regarding costs”. The RPA project for recruitment and training is said to be “proceeding as planned”.
The board also noted its Guardian of Safe Working biannual report highlighting qualitative feedback presented by Jessica Phillips, the trust’s Guardian of Safe Working Lead. Feedback shared from residents included issues with receiving log in details in a timely manner, and inefficiencies around “multiple log ins, slowness to load, lack of suitable computers (the need for multiple screens to view all results and those with enough battery power to get to bedsides) as well as the length of time it takes to complete documentation”.
Phillips’ report also noted feedback on workload for on-call medical teams, with concerns about “a complex bleep system” and the “extreme length” of the task list, resulting in “risk of missing tasks of a high importance”. Here, the trust notes several improvement opportunities to be explored, as well as consideration of whether an upgrade to the Careflow EPR system to ensure full functionality is possible. To read the board papers in full, please click here.
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