Andrew Ottaway

The Trust at which I work had a serious issue with misuse of DATIX, with the CQC highlighting the issue of staff-disengagement that resulted. I approached the then-FTSU Guardian with information on a web-app, Cloud-based pseudo-anonymised engagement platform that staff could use to raise issues without fear of retribution. That platform has now been in-service for around six months, supporting the Guardian, and providing a channel of communications beyond FTSU, and includes access to many departments and Trust execs.

DATIX has a place in patient safety, but there may be better alternatives. Surgical specialist teams for example, have the CORESS confidential reporting system (https://www.coress.org.uk/), while some might find platforms such as 'Say-So' (https://www.say-so.co.uk/) or WorkInConfidence (https://www.workinconfidence.com/) more appropriate.

There is a bigger issue at play, beyond the requirements of NHS Trust staff to have a suitable platform for raising these important issues; Sustainability & Transformation Partnerships and Integrated Care Systems in England, and their counterparts in Scotland and Wales include employees of local authority and private social-care providers who currently have no equivalent to the Freedom To Speak Up Guardian system, let alone a communication platform.

6 minutes ago, Claire Cox said:

hi Andrew,

i have just had a look at the link you sent - I have a meeting with the safety team at my trust tomorrow - Im going to show them this.  Im liking the 'speaking in confidence part.

thank you

Hi Claire. I've attached some information on WorkInConfidence that might be beneficial. 

WorkInConfidence.2019.07.04.All.NHS.pdf

Hi Claire. A number of Trusts have their own specific 'app' - UHMBT for example - that can be downloaded from Google Play or Iphone app store, and there's also Improvewell. Trusts I've spoken with are sceptical about 'apps' for a number of reasons; you have to hope that your staff are willing and able to download software to their personal devices, and there are concerns - real or imagined - about how the software interacts with programs like location services or files on your device. If you're looking for a platform that gives an 'app-like' experience, but one that uses your inbuilt web-browser on your phone, tablet, laptop or PC, there's WorkInConfidence. https://www.workinconfidence.com/ is cloud-based (ie it sits on the client's own purpose-built website on a secure server) but does more than just facilitate raising workplace issues.

Unsafe systems are a human factors issue, a fact long-recognised elsewhere in sectors with a public-safety remit. Confidential staff-engagement/human factors dialogue/whistle-blowing platforms have been around for decades in industries such as aviation, rail, maritime and road transport, and work very successfully in raising, resolving, and understanding the impact of these issues. There are a number of web-based programs and smartphone 'apps' on the market that improve the way staff can raise issues without the fear of detriment for displaying the integrity to want to resolve a problem, within a health- or social-care setting.