Challenges

Barts Health had developed a new auditing programme, Well Run Ward, but were reliant on pen & paper and spreadsheet driven data capture.

Key challenges:

• Staff weren’t fully engaged
• Delay from inspection to receiving reports
• Unclear data, difficult for staff to understand Trust-wide issues and make evidence-based decisions around care quality and patient safety
• Difficult to have a consistent view of quality across their four hospitals

Solutions

Using the Perfect Ward app, Barts was able to implement the Well Run Ward audit across 95 inpatient areas and four hospitals within three months.

The app allows assessors to add comments and photographs, providing absolute clarity on issues or great practice. Assessors can also notify key staff immediately when specific issues arise or when a ward scored poorly.

Staff can easily access and review audit results for their ward, their division or site or across the entire Trust, all with live data. And by being able to see issues as they are spotted, staff can immediately address them, creating a safe, responsive and effective care environment for patients and staff.

Impact

Implementing Perfect Ward resulted in a massive increased in engagement from frontline staff. The live data aspect of Perfect Ward opened up more conversations, allowing staff to react in real-time. The app empowered staff and created a new enthusiasm for ownership over quality and the ability to drive improvements with their own data.

Perfect Ward continues to help Barts Health by reducing unwarranted variation, creating a broader ownership of quality and producing a trust-wide view of care.

"As a senior nurse, I'm all over the site but Perfect Ward is with me in my pocket all the time. So I am aware of when staff have made an inspection, who's made an inspection, where, and what the result is. This allows me to celebrate and congratulate staff immediately."

Cynthia Zimuto
Senior Nurse
Fundamentals of Care Barts Health NHS Trust