Customer Stories

How North Bristol NHS Trust Is Innovating Patient Safety

Read Time 5 minutes

North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) is located in the Southwestern region of the U.K and currently serves a core population of around 750,000 people in Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire.

NBT is renowned for its specialist services. It is a busy regional centre for Major Trauma, Neurosciences, Burns, Plastics, Stroke, Nephrology, and Transplant services.

Beginning their Journey with CareFlow

In November 2023, NBT embarked on a proactive mission to improve operational efficiencies within its Pharmacy department. The primary goal was to eliminate the use of ‘Bleeps’—a type of pager used by clinicians to contact pharmacists. These constant audio chimes were not only distracting but also led to significant task duplication and communication inefficiencies. The traditional system relied heavily on physical movement and paper-based processes, causing pharmacists to spend excessive time walking the site and assessing patient needs, which posed potential safety risks.

NBT’s journey towards innovation began with the implementation of CareFlow Electronic Observations, which laid the groundwork for a smoother transition to Task Orchestration via CareFlow Mobile Care Co-ordination in April 2024. This strategic move leveraged the staff’s familiarity with recent digital transformations, easing the overall change process.

Taking a forward-thinking stance by adopting a ‘big bang’ approach, NBT rolled out the new system across the entire organisation. Visual aids and at the elbow support from the digital nursing team was provided to nurses and pharmacists, helping them quickly learn and adapt to the new system. Ongoing communication between pharmacists and the digital team helped to resolve the issues and challenges that the pharmacists were encountering.

The simplicity of CareFlow Mobile Care Co-ordination further facilitated its implementation. The successful deployment of Task Orchestration via CareFlow Mobile Care Co-ordination enabled the formation of four dedicated teams, providing a comprehensive view of pharmacy processes. This holistic view not only streamlined operations but also enhanced the ability to meet patient needs by priority effectively.

Realising Benefits of Digital Solutions

Innovation at NBT helped to slash operational times for processing TTAs (To Take Away medications), freeing up an extra 19,000 hours per year of clinical time that could be reallocated to patient care.

A graphic which reads, 'Saved over 19,000 hours per year of clinical time that could be reallocated to patient care'. There is a cartoon clock and the key statistic is bold.

NBT’s dedicated staff identified time consuming daily manual tasks that detracted from their clinical time focused on their patients. These tasks could be replaced with innovation and technology, enabling huge efficiencies in the process, improving patient care, accuracy and improving clinical staff experience. The team’s hard work and continuous improvement has revolutionised the workflow for both pharmacists and nurses.

The new workflow and system provided a real-time, comprehensive view of tasks, significantly improving role clarity and responsibility management throughout the day.
This was especially useful for pharmacists, who previously had to physically walk around the site to locate patient requirements to understand their priority, as they now can view and manage tasks remotely and in real time. This significantly reduced delays and enabled them to prioritise tasks based on urgency and patient needs.

One of the significant advantages of NBT’s innovation is that pharmacists no longer had to receive and respond to numerous bleeps throughout the day. This was a benefit for pharmacists as they could focus more on their primary tasks without constant interruptions. The absence of bleeps also led to increased efficiency, as pharmacists were able to complete their work quickly and accurately without frequent distractions. The absence of bleeps also helped to improve patient care, as pharmacists could dedicate more time to patient consultations and medication management.

Nurses also benefited from the system’s flexibility, as it allowed them to access and manage tasks from anywhere, including the bedside, ensuring more time could be dedicated to patient care. This change in working process improved both staff and patient experience.

With this continuous improvement at the core of NBT’s workforce, they are now assessing where else this innovation and implementation can positively be adopted and to enable even more clinical time to be refocused on patient care.

What is in the future for North Bristol NHS Trust?

Driving forward, NBT aims to enhance its focus on comprehensive reporting, aligning staffing levels with patient needs, and assisting other NHS trusts in eliminating the use of bleeps. This initiative extends beyond nurses handling TTAs to other areas within the organisation. NBT is also exploring the implementation of e-prescribing, which will allow them to redesign resources to better meet patient needs. By leveraging these advancements, NBT is poised to significantly improve operational efficiency and patient care.

Through continuous improvement and innovation, North Bristol NHS Trust is setting a new standard in patient safety and operational efficiency, ensuring that their dedicated staff can focus more on what truly matters—caring for patients.