Putting the standard into practice
Having agreed your roadmap with stakeholders, you can now begin making the changes and putting the standard into practice in your organisation.
From piloting the information standard and developing a training programme, through to monitoring and measuring its successful adoption.
Develop a detailed timetable
Based on your high-level roadmap, develop a detailed timetable for change with dates and responsibilities clearly identified. This will signal to stakeholders when the change programme will begin, how long it will take and prepare them to fulfil their role in making it happen.
Consider the following when pulling together your timetable:
Piloting – a small scale trial at the start of a project can help to refine your plan and test systems and requirements.
Plan and procure system changes
Procure the system changes needed ensuring that systems will be delivered that are conformant with the standard. See NHS England procurement guidance.
Agree how the team will be involved in testing the software to ensure it is conformant and meets local requirements.
Technical message standards (to enable translation of the standard into machine readable formats) can be accessed on GOV.UK – The Technology Code of Practice.
Piloting
We recommend piloting a small-scale trial; implementing the information standard for a small number of users or in a small locality. After these users have been trained, the project team can make charts of the processes involved – these charts will form the basis for training all users to access and utilise the information standard.
There are several advantages to running a pilot:
Reduces the risk of a full-scale implementation as adjustments and modifications can be made as a result of the pilot
Training
When you are ready to implement the information standard on a wide scale, you will need to develop training materials. You can use our example slides and training schedule as part of your training initiative.
Your training plan
Make a list of stakeholders who will need to be trained and produce a timetable of training
Work through the example training schedule to develop your plan.
Multiple training sessions can be helpful for your staff to engage and have a greater lever of understanding
Different groups of users will have different learning styles. Take this into account when designing the type of training you offer.
Safety case and hazard log
Why use a safety case and hazard log?
The purpose of the safety case and hazard log is to identify the hazards which could cause a person harm because of using the standard, along with how that hazard can be mitigated. There are different types of mitigation – through system design, testing, user training or business control processes.
When implementing the Palliative and End of Life Care Information Standard you should consider and mitigate hazards using the documentation. Any suppliers you work with must:
- Develop their own safety case and hazard log, using NHS guidance DCB0160
- Have registered clinical safety officers to ensure the systems implemented are safe for use and person care
- Run risk assessments to determine the likelihood and consequence of a risk happening.
As part of ongoing clinical risk management, it is recommended that regular clinical risk assessments are undertaken. This can be done using a recognised tool e.g., SWIFT or BOW TIE.
Resources
Monitor, measure and adjust
Once you have implemented the Palliative and End of Life Care Information Standard, you’ll want to measure the success of your implementation. For example, how often the elements within standard are being used and whether it is improving care and/or patient experience. Use the current baseline metrics you have developed.
Analyising the results
- Are the expected benefits being achieved?
- If not, why not and how could this be improved?
- What has been learnt that would improve the process and outcomes?
You should expect to go through iterations to get your implementation right over time. This gives you a chance to review data on the effectiveness of the changes and course correct as needed in iterative cycles:
Define clear roles and responsibilities
Reflect on the data you have gathered
Make adaptations to your system or processes
Celebrate and publicise successes
Repeat
PRSB Standards Explained
Why we need standards to record our health and care information in a consistent way so that it can be made available whenever it is needed.
Making change happen
Transformation programmes need clear goals, the right leadership and engaged staff and stakeholders. Get started by reading our information on transformational change.
PRSB Support Available
If you have a question for PRSB, please contact our support team. We have an expert team who can help you find the answer, or direct you to the right place.