Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust employs 10,000 people who provide acute and specialist health services for a population of nearly two million people.

The Trust has five hospitals Charing Cross, Hammersmith, Queen Charlottes & Chelsea, St Marys and The Western Eye.

With its academic partner, Imperial College London, the organisation is one of the UKs seven academic health science centres, working to ensure the rapid translation of research for better patient care and excellence in education.

Combining the best of both worlds: heritage and future ambition

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust is proud of a rich heritage which it combines with an ambitious vision for the future of its patients. In April 2014, the Trust completely overhauled its patient safety system based on Datix software.

According to Tammy Moorcroft, Safety & Effectiveness Programme Manager at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, The introduction of Datix and the new modules has helped ensure that the Trust continues to implement learning from incidents and gives us a central place for risks to be measured and tracked.

Flexibility drives innovation and integration

The Trust has implemented the latest simple-to-use, web-based version of the Datix solution to gain buy-in from various departments, encourage widespread adoption of the system and create a single, integrated patient safety framework across the organisation. It has introduced a comprehensive range of Datix solutions including the Datix incident, risk, legal and safety alerts modules. The organisation is currently adapting the original patient advice and liaison service (PALS) module to cover mortality and morbidity data.

Data is king

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust relies on the accuracy and accessibility of data held in the Datix system to make meaningful changes to processes that directly impact patient safety. For example, the Trusts Quality Improvement Team has conducted a deep-dive investigation into falls and the results from the data analysis have led to recommendations and improvements in this area, an approach which Tammy and her team expect to be replicated in other parts of the organisation.

The team is also using the Datix system to share learning and promote best-practice across the Trusts disparate sites. For example, one hospital produced a poster that highlighted an increase in medication incidents with advice on what actions to take to reduce them, the information quickly spread with positive results.

Success is down to communication

Tammy and her team are combining technology with good communication to introduce a culture that wholeheartedly understands the importance of incident reporting and Datix helps to manage the process effectively.

Tammy Moorcroft continued, My advice is communicate, communicate, communicate. We've invested significant amounts of time in educating staff to turn reporting incidents and near misses into a positive, empowering experience and its paid off.

"February 2016 saw the highest number of incidents ever reported in a single month, a fantastic result that benefits patients and staff alike." Tammy Moorcroft, Safety & Effectiveness Programme Manager at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Forward into the future

Thanks to the dedication and professionalism of the Datix team, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust looks forward to creating an even safer patient environment with cohesive processes and greater integration particularly around incidents and risk management plus the completion of the morbidity module.

April 2016 saw the go live of the Trusts automated KO41 system. Up until then, the collation of written complaints and their submission to the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) was a time-consuming, heavily manual process. Improved automation will save on time and resources.

Tammy Moorcroft concluded, This latest innovation will enable us to respond quickly and securely to the reporting and monitoring requirements of the HSCIC, a critical component of the NHS Plan to improve the overall patient experience throughout the UK. Yet again, Datix, through its easy-to-use, highly scalable technology and commitment to continual product innovation, puts us one step ahead.

About Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust employs 10,000 people who provide acute and specialist healthcare for a population of nearly two million people in north west London, and more beyond. The Trust has five hospitals Charing Cross, Hammersmith, Queen Charlottes & Chelsea, St Marys and The Western Eye as well as a growing number of community services.

For more information, please visit www.imperial.nhs.uk