The Royal College of Nursing has praised NHS Forth Valley for its use of a dashboard system to improve patient care. Their comments followed a visit to Forth Valley Royal Hospital by Former Health Secretary Alex Neil, who said the NHS in Scotland is to roll out new ways for nurses to review care across the wards.
The RCN said nurses in Forth Valley are to be congratulated on the at-a-glance visual dashboards which display levels of cleanliness, hand hygiene details and the status of pressure injuries in each individual ward. Ellen Hudson, Associate Director at RCN Scotland said all other health boards now needed to step up to the mark and make sure they have similar systems in place.
“In this way patients and the public can be assured that any problems in delivering safe, effective and person-centred care are recognised immediately and can be dealt with there and then.”
The national roll-out will build on work pioneered through the Scottish Government’s quality strategy, to support senior charge nurses to be clinical leaders and guardians of safety and quality, and Scotland’s unique patient safety programme.
Alll health boards have been tasked to implement a quality assurance process for nursing care that suits their services. The Scottish Government’s Chief Nursing Officer will work with local Nursing Directors to bring this forward as soon as possible.
Mr Neil said: “The changes already delivered through the world-leading Scottish Patient Safety Programme means that our NHS is now safer than ever before.
“We have already developed clear standards and continue to support strong clinical leadership for Scotland’s nurses. We will build on that by continuing to recruit the best people, and giving every nurse the support and training they need.”
The dashboard – which is just one type of quality assurance tool – is already enhancing services in Forth Valley. It is motivating the team at Forth Valley Royal Hospital to strive for excellence in care by being more open and flexible in their approach.”
Professor Angela Wallace, Director of Nursing NHS Forth Valley added:
“Nurses in Forth Valley have been at the forefront of developing and implementing this important system which provides accurate and up-to-date information on a number of key quality and safety measures. It helps us to monitor our performance on a day-to-day basis and supports a wide range of work to improve the care and experience of patients within our hospitals.”
