Nick Black, CIO at Gateshead Health NHS Foundation TrustChannel 3 has been key to the development of our integrated EPR outline business case. Their stakeholder engagement approach enabled us to get input from more than 300 members of staff and their transparency in delivery kept us always appraised and ahead of the delivery plan. I really enjoyed working with them, both for their professionalism and their enthusiasm.
Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust is at the forefront of digital innovation and is committed to using innovative technologies to enhance patient and workforce experience. Awarded with funding as a Global Digital Exemplar (GDE) fast follower in 2018, the GDE programme’s “best of breed” approach brought a clinical system that, while well-liked by clinical and operational staff, was not fulfilling its potential.
With the GDE programme ending, and an appetite to continue its digital transformation, the trust sought new options for its clinical systems strategy. And so, we were selected by Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust to conduct a critical evaluation of existing systems and define more resilient and future-proof solutions going forward.
Gathering stakeholder feedback to create a clear path forward
With the current systems individually providing good functionality, the challenge to improve the digital experience was understanding the difficulties users were experiencing and the options to move forward. It was quickly identified that a seamlessly integrated system was necessary to overcome this challenge.
The trust knew implementing a single integrated EPR (electronic patient record) alone would be out of their reach so they set about looking at alternative options that would enable them to create a digital solution that would help them deliver better care through digital.
To set them up for success, Gateshead needed a partner to help them assess their options and identify:
• What was important to staff?
• What should be the priorities of the new clinical system?
• What was available on the market to help fulfil operational requirements?
When considering new systems brings new challenges
Working in collaboration with clinical staff, we set about developing a mixed methodology approach to stakeholder engagement that would answer these questions and inform the options available for the future provision of integrated digital systems.
We developed a 10-week delivery plan with stakeholder engagement at the core, connecting with more than 300 members of the workforce across Gateshead through face-to-face interviews, and an online survey aligned with the national EPR usability survey, with suitable adaptations made to take into account the priorities of operational staff and drop-in sessions.
All contributions were then analysed and distilled into key challenges, aspirations and ICS-aligned priorities. Using a grounded theory method for conducting qualitative analysis ensured that the priorities were rooted in evidence. By engaging stakeholders across the trust, we could build a business case using cost/benefit analysis that reflected the needs and requirements of the clinical and operational staff and their patients.
Progressing the digital transformation journey
Through our partnership, Gateshead has been able to gain clarity in its direction forward, unlocking an organisation that was previously unsure of where to go next with its clinical systems. In addition, the qualitative analysis provided staff-owned priorities, giving the workforce a sense of ownership across the organisation. Now with buy-in from clinical and operational stakeholders, the Gateshead workforce is united in a clear path to improve patient safety and experience.
Discover how Channel 3 can support your organisation with your clinical system strategy, solution selection, implementation or system optimisation on our Clinical Systems page.
