Outcomes - South and East
Regional Champion: Janet Skinner
Janet is responsible for communication with Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Fife, Lothian and Lanarkshire Health Boards and the University of Edinburgh, Heriot Watt University, Napier University, Queen Margaret University, the University of St Andrews and the University of Stirling. Also in the region are the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh, the Royal College of Physicians, NHS Education for Scotland, Barony Castle for the SAS and the State Hospital.
Regional divisions for the CS MEN were determined pragmatically: because each Regional Champion is seconded to the Network for only 4 hours a week the workload was divided to make communication manageable. We are aware that the divisions used differ to others used in the NHS and by the SFC, and are facilitating cluster groups that cross the regions we are working with (for example between the Universities of Abertay Dundee, Dundee and St. Andrews), recognising that clinical skills do not fit neatly within three regions.
Now in its third year of operation, the CS MEN has set ambitious Key Performance Indicators for 2010 for each region. For the South & East, these are:
Quality assurance KPIs
By the end of 2010, each Health Board will have been invited to adopt the self-assessment questionnaire, successfully piloted by the CS MEN in 2009, to assist its internal QA processes. The questionnaire sets out 9 key standards that simulated skills sessions should meet, and Janet is available to assist Boards in implementing them.
The first Board to be invited to adopt the questionnaire is NHS Lothian, where work has begun. We hope to have the questionnaire completed for 30-40 education sessions by the end of April.
After NHS Lothian, use of the questionnaire will be rolled-out to NHS Borders, NHS Dumfries and Galloway, NHS Fife and NHS Lanarkshire.
Adoption of the questionnaire by all Boards will assist in the transfer of skills, and negate the need for a costly skills passport to be introduced.
Resource development KPIs
The CS MEN will be developing additional skills packs to meet locally and nationally identified training needs, in priority areas. Members from the South & East will be invited to participate in determining content or the review process for new packs, and will lead on resource development for: Arterial Blood Gases which incorporates multiprofessional work in Fife and Tayside and will be used on the mobile unit when it next visits NHS Borders; IO Needles, written by Jon McCormack, Consultant in Paediatric Anaesthesia at Edinburgh Sick Kids, which is being put on line after completion of its external review; and Chest Drains written by Janet herself, which is currently under review and available through the NHS shared learning website and for which workshops are being developed. An initial meeting was held in Edinburgh to review an IV Medicines pack for national use, attended by Paula Ingram and Irene Lavery (NHS Lothian), Lisi Gordon (multiprofessional project Tayside), Chris Ronayne (NHS GGC) and Andrea Baker (CS MEN resource developer). A Clinical Decision Making resource written by Graham Nimmo of Stirling University has been made available as an online tutorial by a Special Interest Group of the Scottish Clinical Skills Network which also has a webpage hosted by the NHS library and a community page on the Knowledge Network. Janet is also working with AHP facilitators in Fife to assist them in developing clinical skills in their health board area.
If you would like to help in the development of any of these packs please contact me at janet.skinner@ed.ac.uk
Mobile unit KPIs
The CS MEN will roll out a national programme of Prescribing for Pharmacists and Janet will support this by contacting pharmacists in rural parts of the South & East region. It is also intended to pilot the “Pre-hospital mental health care” national programme led by RRHEAL in Dumfries and Galloway and Janet will assist with this.
There is a need to find, train and second a pool of drivers for the mobile unit from all regions, and Janet will liaise with Scottish Ambulance Service to identify suitable individuals. It is also necessary to train more faculty to deliver courses through the unit and Janet will liaise with stakeholder to identify 20 more people to be trained from the regions. Places can be funded only in return for a commitment to deliver sessions on the unit which will be centrally coordinated through Janet.
If you would like to apply for the faculty development course, please contact me at janet.skinner@ed.ac.uk
Network KPIs
Janet will work to consolidate the network in the South & East by holding a regional consortia meeting in Edinburgh in April. The meeting will showcase some of the packs CS MEN has developed in this region, provide an update on the CS MEN quality assurance framework as well as the mobile skills unit, and run workshops. If you would like to attend, see the News page for further details.
It is hoped to run faculty development days in the region and Janet will initiate group meetings with Health Boards and HEIs to this end; for example, a Local Cluster Group comprising the Universities of St Andrews, Dundee and Abertay has agreed to deliver three half-day professional development sessions at the universities by summer.
Research and Development KPIs
R&D monies of £24,000 are available to fund small projects in the South & East regions and it is envisaged that the research should focus on topics around human factors; transferring skills from simulation into practice; or measuring the impact of skills education. The research should have demonstrable benefit to the patient experience or patient safety and Janet will be responsible for ensuring that suitable researchers are made aware of the application procedure. Decisions will be made on the potential impact of the research findings which researchers would need to have published in a quality journal; and awards will be approved by NHS Education for Scotland to further ensure impartiality. A process for requesting funding is being developed and details will be announced at the end of February.
