Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust devised its own IT handover system called Hospital at Night Patient List.
The system enables day staff to enter details of patients who may be at risk or need reviewing, which can be transferred easily to Hospital at Night (HaN).
Junior doctor Ruth Verrier-Jones helped to pilot the system, she said: “If I had such a patient during the day, I would always tell my senior verbally but entering the information on a system helps with the transfer of information to night staff.
It enables staff to know which patient they have to see, why and how urgently. The feedback from medical staff is that it is valuable and particularly beneficial at night. One doctor told me, ‘I don’t even have to look for a nurse, I know where I am going and who I am going to see’.
Debbie Dupont
“They can immediately see why the patient is on the list and the key points around their condition and treatment.”
Trust project manager Debbie Dupont explains that the system does not replace the traditional verbal ‘handover’, she said: “We have designed a base room where day teams leaving the hospital meet with core staff coming on duty to verbally handover.
Key Learning
Better access to patient information
Improved handover system
Improves doctor organisation
“The new system means that they now have access to electronically written support, a list which can be printed to carry out. If a person cannot attend the handover they can access the information electronically.”
Almost 200 people, mainly junior doctors but including senior house officers, registrars and consultants, have now been trained on the system, which has been in place for almost two years but used more extensively in the last 12 months.
Debbie said: “It enables staff to know which patient they have to see, why and how urgently. The feedback from medical staff is that it is valuable and particularly beneficial at night. One doctor told me, ‘I don’t even have to look for a nurse, I know where I am going and who I am going to see’.”
The trust believes the system will help with EWTD compliance, enabling a smaller core group of doctors working at night to all have access to the information and will benefit patient safety.
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