Christmas staff magazine

Staff magazine
Winter 2016
THE IMPROVEMENT CYCLE
Make changes in cycles, testing your
ideas before moving to the next cycle.
P
D
NHS NUMBER
keeping patients safe
S
STARTING AN
IMPROVEMENT
JOURNEY
P
D
A
S
A
What are you trying
to accomplish?
How will you know
that a change is an
improvement?
What changes can you
make that will result
in an improvement?
This is the safest and easiest way to record a patient’s
identity and reduces the risk of errors.
1. PLAN
Think about what would you like to improve or change and why.
Be clear about what you want to achieve as it will help
you move through the next steps
Try setting some SMART objectives
Think about what the best way might be to test your idea
What information do you need to collect
to measure whether the change has had
the impact you wanted
Who needs to know about your change –
think about the people it may impact on
Cycles of improvement
2. DO
Follow your plan
Deliver the change cycle over a time period that makes
most sense – an hour, a day or a number of weeks
Remember to collect your data
Communications is important to success so make sure
people understand what you are doing and why
Encourage involvement and seek feedback –
good and bad
One of the largest single sources of nationally
reported patient safety incidents relates to the
misidentification of patients, according to the
National Patient Safety Agency.
The safest way to record a patient’s identity is
to include their NHS number in their records.
Staff should not use the trust identification number,
known as the T number, as the sole identification
of a patient. This is because patients with the same
name known to the trust prior to 2001 can have T
numbers with only one digit difference.
Always use the NHS number if it is known.
This will reduce the risk of errors in patient
identification. Only use the T number if the NHS
number is not available. And whether you use
the NHS number or the T number, be sure to also
check the patient’s surname, forename, date of
birth and first line of their address.
NHS number - If you have it, use it.
The NHS number makes it easier to find
the right patient quickly.
4. ACT
3. STUDY
Share your learning and
progress with others
Think about what worked well
and implement it
Consider what areas may require a further change
What might you need to stop doing?
Start to plan your next cycle
Analyse the information you collected
to measure the change
Determine whether your change has had the
impact you want
Think about what you have learnt
Is there anything missing that you should consider collecting next time?
Were there any unexpected benefits or implications of your change?
Let the transformation team know if you are making an improvement or if you need help.