Danielle Haupt

Great blog as always Claire! I think I remember you saying you've been finding walkie talkies work well when wearing PPE hoods....but since then I can't find the post ??‍♀️. Can you explain this a little more please? Hearing within the hood is something a lot of our team are struggling with. Xx

Thank you, I'm a little late, but only just had a chance to read your fantastic, excellently written blog.

It hugely resonates with me:

"‘work as done, work as imagined’ (Wears, Hollnagel & Braithwaite, 2015) – this shift on paper looks as if it was a ‘good shift’ but in fact......"

I loved learning about this concept at the Patient Safety Congress last year....it's just so true........ and we so need to curb the checklists....they started to help save time and act as reminders, but there are now checklists to check that you have checked the checklist! Does it actually prompt and prove the task is completed?

I also really appreciate how you have explained the uplift experienced following the unusual announcement "we're fully staffed today!!" at handover.  Starting a shift with a positive, motivated mindset is key for me.

I can only imagine how morale would suddenly be improved if staffing issues were solved! With better morale....magic happens! Ideas flow and motivation returns and staff are keen to work on positive changes to allow continuous growth.

Have I felt 'unsafe' giving care? Unfortunately yes, and generally due to being over stretched.  The best nurses in the world are still only human with one pair of hands.  As an Outreach nurse I see too often the corners that are cut to allow the nursing time to be stretched among so many patients at one time.  It's destructive on all levels!

I hope we see changes made soon and would love to see safe staffing levels mandated nationally.  When considering what makes for "safe" staffing ratios, I sincerely hope that 'work as done, work as imagined' is fully appreciated and blogs like this are read!

Thank you for taking time to write this piece. ?

Thank you for sharing!! I was looking for a good human factors reference for my current essay!  I have found the book online via my university online library.  I now have some references that I was after ?

Great reply @Claire Cox

I particularly relate to you saying the reporting person usually feels strongly about what has happened and is often motivated to complete the Datix as they want to see a positive change happen.....I have often witnessed staff staying on late to complete these....I'm sure this is a common occurrence everywhere! 

It's very true that staff involved in the incidents often have excellent ideas as to how to avoid the same problem in the future.  I can imagine adequate staffing is a common solution!!

If a field was added onto a Datix form template (or equivalent) asking for suggested solutions to prevent the problem from recurring in the future, it would potentially provide a wealth of ideas and evidence for consideration?  If the same solutions are frequently suggested over and over, would that suggest that the idea is highly worth considering? 

I'm not sure if this is common practice elsewhere, but our Critical Care and High Dependency Unit specifically share feedback of incidents among staff, routinely.  One of our senior sisters who has a special interest in clinical governance reviews all incidents related to our units.  She regularly emails "incident summaries" and associated changes in practice to all unit staff.  For specific incidents, a "lessons learnt" document is attached.  These are written by various staff and allow us to make positive changes from our incidents.  Lessons learned are discussed among staff and displayed on our staff noticeboards (email receipts have even been used to help ensure the information is read).

The Trust have recently started a "Hot Spots" monthly briefing which includes information about important clinical safety issues and staff are encouraged to share at safety huddles, handovers and briefings.  Nevertheless.... so far, I have only received one (by email)....but maybe they're in the pipeline.

I am not so sure how the other Datix reports are shared within the rest of the hospital.  Your post prompted me to read the feedback received via email following my more recent Datix submissions...... honestly, I wish I hadn't!!  Not one feedback provided me with confidence that changes were being made....just acknowledgement of my Datix and a "now move on and bury" type of reply! It would be lovely to have the time to respond to some of the feedback received!  I believe the "Hot Spots" is a good start as will likely focus on the most common/important issues.  

Better Datix feedback would be encouraging and educational for all involved.  Better still, a comment provided, acknowledging staff ideas (if provided), would help encourage the flow of ideas to continue........ and if the solution was not possible (often cost related) perhaps a compromise solution could be discussed. Just maybe, money saving ideas may become more everyone's business as a result. 

I'm very interested on how and what Datix feedback is provided elsewhere?  For me, dismissive feedback is frustrating and actually discourages future reporting than providing no feedback at all!! 

I'm not familiar with who is tasked with the Datix feedback and can appreciate time is likely a hugely limiting factor to carefully consider each response.

Thank you for posting.  It's great to reflect on such situations and discuss with other like minded people.

PS: It's not Datix related, but this made me think of our staff suggestions box.  Do you have one on your ward?  It might be something you and your colleagues find beneficial. 

We all notice aspects of our work life that we would like to change (for personal reasons and for our patients/visitors)...... making suggestions for positive changes may help limit some of these gripes and make for a happier workplace in general.  We can't always expect our ideas to be materialised immediately and our managers may not have the scope that's required..... but..... often ideas are what spark off bigger things.  I often have ideas.....some unrealistic, some achievable.....I am encouraged to discuss these with management who generally share my vision....they help guide me on how I can achieve my goal and support me to make the changes required..... and it's so rewarding when you personally experience your idea soaring!! 

Don't ever give up.....remember it will all be worth the effort eventually!

Well done for raising your concerns. ☺️

Thanks @Claire Cox

How frustrating re your phone!!  We have similar signal issues in a few places too! Same with our auto electronic-obs alerts in the internet black spots, hence a big reason we have to stipulate a bleep/call referral too.

Good lesson learned/tip to ensure C4C has a voicemail option when helping others set it up the service!!  I also find this useful if I am unable to answer the phone straight away.  I made sure to highlight in our new leaflet the details we require when leaving a message.  We have also found text messaged C4C referrals work well too!!  Our laryngectomy patients are encouraged to text us if they need us using the same number.

Did anyone record @Emma Richardson's talk? Well done to her, no wonder they loved it....she's awesome! 

Take Care

Dani

PS: totally agree.... would be so great if C4C was the norm and well known in all hospitals!!  It's encouraging to see so many asking for advice about setting it up on Twitter....hopefully they will find these threads useful! I made our Leaflet with our sister-Trusts in mind so ? they will set something up if they haven't already.

SOU4959_137821_0719_V3_LoRes.pdf

Hey @Emma Richardson and @Claire Cox

Sorry I have not been keeping up with the hub recently.... busy busy busy! ?

Better late than never, but wanted to share our We're Listening (aka Call for Concern) Leaflet with you all.  It's now fully published and already displayed in multiple areas!! ?

The plan is for it to be displayed in all hospital areas, but it's taking some time to get the news out and ask departments to order some (they're free from Office Depot).

I have recently started an all hospital audit which is helping to get the word out. Also our Outreach Team are trialing email footers to spread word of things that we feel are important.

All ideas welcome on how to improve staff awareness of our service. ☺️

Hope you are all keeping well.

Speak soon

Dani

Thanks @Luke Brown. What a great achievement! I too wish we had this in our Trust. ? one day we will. 

Thanks for sharing @Claire Cox and @Emma Richardson

As you know, I have been working on our C4C patient information leaflet too.

We have had one for many years, but for 18 months, and counting, I have made major changes to this.

It's been a long and drawn-out process due to many NHS hurdles, but it's due at our Document Management Group (DMG) meeting again on 18th Aug.  I truly hope they will approve it and I will move on to getting in printed. ?

I will share on here as soon as it's been approved! 

Hope you're getting on well with the rest of your C4C work. ?

Thanks @Sam and @HelenH for your kind words, glad you liked the post.... hope others find it helpful.

@Margot if you decide to tweet this, please tag our group Twitter handle '@CCOT_Southend'. Thank you. ?

I'm currently working on our latest newsletter edition, which includes a section about the hub with the kind help of @Sam, which I hope by sharing will encourage more and more staff to join the hub network.

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Ah @Luke Brown is this one of the many talents of your app! Thanks @Claire Cox been chatting with Luke already, looking forward to seeing his upcoming post on his wonderful App. ?

Only managed to skim-read this, but it looks amazing.....hope this is the future vision for us all.  Looks like we can learn so much from the team at Liverpool.

A personal frustration.... can anyone help please....?

We tend to use email a lot to alert us of new policies, reminders, departmental changes, updates, news, team discussion threads etc.  I also tend to use my email as a filing system to help me organise my workload (less clinical-related stuff) and often refer back to many emails using the search function when needed.  Some emails I keep for revalidation if I have been thanked or praised.  I am also reluctant to delete emails as I have had to use them as a form of documented proof on some occasions.

Even though I try to be as ruthless as possible, delete attachments and save large emails to my personal drive on the hospital network, I am always running out of digital space (email and drive space).  This then prevents me from sending or receiving important email correspondents. (PS I have already asked IT to increase my space limit).

I have noticed this must not just be a personal problem as I have frequently sent group emails out and received automatic replies that certain email users will not receive my mail as their inboxes are full.  This seems like a potential patient safety risk if some users are not receiving certain important information (not to mention the wasted time trying to sift through endless emails in an attempt to delete something less important).

Does anyone have any tips or advice for me please?

Thank you

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