Blackpool trust implements Nervecentre Hospital at Night

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has extended its implementation of Nervecentre to deliver the benefits of mobile working, workflow and governance across Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

The extension includes hospital-wide management of the out-of-hours Acute Response Team; hospital-wide Mobile Handover; and management of patient referrals to 90-plus specialties.

Prior to this most recent contract, Nervecentre was implemented as a six-month trial for Acute Response Team management across medical wards and implemented in full across all wards for management of portering requests.

Dr Victoria Ellarby, vision programme director said: “Our initial implementations of Nervecentre has proven to be very successful and we are excited about extending our relationship.

“Our Acute Response Team and portering services have demonstrated improved responsiveness, we have additional levels of audit and governance, and mobile working has increased staff efficiency. By extending the use of Nervecentre to standardise other clinical and operational processes and to provide real-time visibility of the hospital’s activities, we believe that we will provide a safer, higher-quality, more-consistent service for our patients.

“The project will have a direct impact on two of our key strategic aims – zero delays and zero harm.’’

The Acute Response Team at Blackpool Victoria Hospital provides out-of-hours cover across the site.

Andrew Goacher, clinical change facilitator, said: “During out-of-hours periods before Nervecentre, wards would request attention for a patient from the Acute Response Team using a pager and landline system.  

“Allocation of tasks was managed manually; junior doctors maintained their own paper-based list; requests for attention could get delayed and passed between shifts, or even missed altogether. By maintaining a central list of outstanding tasks, allocating those tasks to the junior doctor’s mobile device and driving accountability, Nervecentre provides a full list of which patient has an outstanding need, and who has accepted responsibility for that particular task.

“By giving our team the appropriate tools we have driven down response times, reduced the potential for untoward incidents and are able to ensure that incomplete tasks are appropriately escalated.”

The next phase of implementation is Mobile Handover, which provides each member of the clinical team with a real-time view of their patients.

In addition to removing the risk and inefficiency of paper-based handover meetings, Mobile Handover ensures that all members of a clinical team are working from a common understanding of the status of a patient.

Debbie Guy, director of clinical operations at Nervecentre, said: “A significant risk to patient safety in most hospitals is the reliance that each member of the clinical team places on their own paper-based notes that are generally only updated at the start of a shift. By enabling nurses and doctors to update patient information on their mobile device, Blackpool will be able to utilise a consistent and up-to-date view of the status of each patient across the hospital. Better information ensures better patient care and smoother operation of the hospital.”