Listening into Action (LiA) P ass it On Event 3rd July 2013 Team Medical Records

1. Listening into Action (LiA)Pass it On Event3rd July 2013Team Medical Records

2. Medical Records • Team Sponsor Group Members • Lynsey Booth • Jo Taylor • Allie Knowles • Barry Hanson • Trust Sponsor • Tyrone Roberts, Lead Nurse in Medicine

3. Our Mission and Aims To improve the environment in the Medical Records Department so casenotes can be safely retrieved by staff and are available when needed for patients.

4. Case for Change The feedback received from our staff following our departmental pulse check highlighted two main points: • the difficulties with the lack of space in the filing areas caused delays in retrieving casenotes in a timely and safe manner. - communication could be improved

5. Links with Trust Values and Goals With patients being at the heart of everything we do it is important that we get the basics right. Having patients casenotes available when they are needed is the first step of any patient journey. Having enough space to store the casenotes is fundamental and thanks to LiA, we are now well on the way to achieving this.

6. Our Approach Our staff conversation was held on Monday 8th April 2013 in the Education Centre. We made sure that at least one member of staff from each section received an invitation and cover was provided for their duties so that they could attend. Not only did we ask them to say what the problems were, we also encouraged them to actively think of solutions to the issues they faced. There were some really good suggestions and many of which have been takenon board since the conversation.

7. Staff Conversation Tyrone Roberts also came in and had a good talk with all of the staff as a group and then individually at their tables which gave assurance that this scheme is definitely not just lip service. The feedback received was positive and the staff left with the feeling that they had been listened to and that their opinion mattered.

8. Quick Wins • Some of our quick wins are simple things that were already available, we just weren’t aware that the staff wanted them. Thanks to LiA we have been able to fulfil such requirements as: • - a comprehensive list of secretaries and their locations. • redistributing our fans to provide more for one of the filing rooms. • providing more grey boxes for the delivery team. • obtaining lockers to allow staff to store their personal belongings. • altering the workload in to smaller more manageable bundles and distributed more frequently throughout the day. This eases the physical pressure on the staff but does not affect the daily targets achieved.

9. We have also achieved the following: We have eliminated the feeling that staff do not understand the connection between their role and the wider vision of the Trust. 90% of our staff now feel that the management & supervisory team communicate clearly about what we are trying to achieve. The number of staff who felt encouraged to suggest new ideas within the department has doubled since LiA was introduced. More staff are finding that their day to day issues and frustrations are being identified and resolved quickly.

10. 3 High Impact Actions To decide which three actions would have the biggest impact on our department, we chose the issues which appeared most from the staff conversation via the tablecloths and general discussions. Space issues Trolleys Communication

11. Space Issues LiA has managed to help us “unblock” the issues faced with finding more space and funding for additional racking to store casenotes.

12. Trolleys The clerks told us of issues with the trolleys they use when retrieving casenotes from file. We now have a comprehensive trolley maintenance and replacement programme in place.

13. Communication We have implemented the following processesto communicate with our staff • Monthly section meetings. • Suggestions boxes and forms to complete for any ideas the staff may have to change processes. • A newsletter which is produced bi-monthly with useful information. • A “you said, we did” leaflet keeping them up to date on the suggestions we have received.

14. Benefits to Patients/Staff/Trust • - A safer environment for staff to work in. • Increased casenote availability. • Boosted staff morale. • Increased staff engagement.

15. Measures of Success We are measuring our success by completing departmental pulse checks. Pulse checks give the answer options based on a 1-5 scale; 1 being “not at all” and 5 being “very much so”. Our first pulse check was completed in March 2013 and when we analysed the results from June we noticed that the number of staff choosing option 1 had gone from 7% to just 1.8%. The number of staff choosing option 5 had risen from 33.7% to 45%. We will continue to measure our success in this way in the hopes of eliminating the staff who still feel the need to choose option 1 for any question.

16. Summary and Next Steps We have had a successful 3 months and are now motivated to take it forward continuing to use the LiA principles. We need to improve the way we manage and engage staff whilst knowing we have the support of the Trust to “unblock” any obstacles that may be out of our immediate control.

17. I think you will all find that our results speak for themselves…… “LiA makes me feel part of the team!” “LiA has greatly improved our working environment.” “LiA has given our staff new motivation.” “LiA has enabled us to overcome some pressures within the department, making it a better place to work.” “LiA has provided a forum for staff to voice their opinions on how to improve their working environment” “I’m impressed at how quickly the suggestions we make are carried out.”

18. THANK YOU!Any Questions? Come and see our Market Stall. For further Information on this work please contact Lynsey Booth Medical Records Ext 2797 lynsey.booth @nhs.net