Trusts take advantage of the upgrade in incident software

NHS England wanted care organisations to have more choice of suppliers for incident management software than just the incumbent vendors, as well as to improve the technology, analytics and ultimately patient safety, in the upgrade from the National Reporting and Learning System to the Learn from Patient Safety Events system.

And that is exactly what happened. A new local incident module, Incident Oversight from InPhase, was certified for LFPSE by NHSE earlier this year.

The March 2023 deadline to have transferred to LFPSE is now just around the corner, and the change naturally raises a lot of questions: why is it happening? How does LFPSE improve patient safety? Do we want to capture the optional risk and outcomes event types? Just as importantly, what could a new local LFPSE incident reporting system look like in order to take advantage of the change?

First, as LFPSE requires more information than previously recorded, it’s crucial for minimising clinicians’ time form filling that a local LFPSE incident system has extensive features designed to speed up and streamline the recording process.

Indeed, what sets the new Incident Oversight apart from the current incumbent suppliers is its unparalleled focus on the clinician’s experience. This includes a clever incident form interface that runs at high speed across any mobile phone, tablet or PC, using multiple techniques to shorten the time required to fill out the form. Oversight’s fast forms are expected to save thousands of hours of clinical time a year on the longer LFPSE format compared to other submission forms.

Local governance teams are well-cared for too. They can configure forms themselves, rather than going back to the vendor, inserting and editing local questions in amongst the LFPSE questions where they will make the most sense to the clinician filling in the form, rather than dumping them at the end of already burdensome forms.

For continuity of oversight, any new LFPSE system must support the migration of historical incident data so that it’s easily accessible to thoroughly manage the incident, including any updates, any recurrences and long-term trends. InPhase 30 year’s history of providing analysis from disparate data sources, including historical incident and audit systems, means it has a great ability to migrate data, enabling Incident Oversight to include all historical event data.

With helpful AI, cause-and-effect mapping and SPC trends analysis, Incident Oversight can help teams identify trends, exceptions and problem hot spots faster, improve local analysis and enable staff to quickly plan, deliver and track assured actions with more confidence.

Putting incidents into the bigger context Robert Hobbs, InPhase’s chief executive, explained, “With the whole Oversight suite, the InPhase team is progressing a vision to improve care quality, patient safety and performance by bringing together fragmented information to create a single oversight for triangulated assurance and continuous improvement.”

InPhase 30 year’s history of providing analysis from disparate data sources, including historical incident and audit systems, means it has a great ability to migrate data, enabling Incident Oversight to include all historical event data

The Oversight suite already had support from the Care Quality Commission and the National Institute for Care and Excellence for its quality modules, had an award-winning audit module, and now with added NHSE support and certification for the LFPSE Incident module, the triangulated Oversight approach for assurance is compelling.

Trusts looking to take advantage of the new triangulation opportunity and implementing Oversight include East and North Hertfordshire Trust.

“With Oversight, everything will be in one place, meaning we don’t need to pull data about the quality of care from multiple different sources,” explains Rachael Corser, chief nurse.

Oversight has already changed the face of quality and compliance assurance at several NHS and independent care providers, including County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust, Wirral Community Health and Care FT, The Royal Wolverhampton Trust and Circle Group for the 52 combined Circle and BMI hospitals.

The Wirral SAFE Care Home project for 125 care homes for infection prevention and control during covid-19 was a finalist and award winner for HSJ Patient Safety Award and the Infection Prevention Society Awards 2021.

At Circle Group over the last two years more than 40 of the Circle hospitals using the system for the first time improved their CQC ratings.

Cody Long, the head of the Quality Assurance and Assessment Team at Circle, highlighted one of the benefits that made an impact at Circle, “Real-time, that was the big buzzword for us – real-time assurance for the site, for the region and for the group, and ultimately the board.”

Want to know more?

NHSE’s Lucie Mussett, Patient Safety lead and senior product manager for LFPSE will be joining Robert Hobbs, InPhase CEO and Warren Edge, senior associate director of Assurance and Compliance, County Durham and Darlington FT to discuss the latest updates on LFPSE and PSIRF, Incident Oversight and the triangulated Oversight assurance vision, and the use of Oversight for triangulation in practice, at the HSJ Patient Safety Congress on 24 October - 25 October 2022.

If you can’t wait that long, or are not able to attend the Congress, the speakers recorded a preview of the briefing last week, including a short demonstration of the Oversight system, to which providers can request access directly from InPhase on the link below.

For more information visit here.