One of Dorset HealthCare’s Project Support Officers, John Hutchence, has for the past 4 months been working on finding out what DHC users think of DCR and how to promote the system. In our latest blog, John highlights some of important feedback received and details what is being done to further promote the system.
DCR has been live for several years and statistics regarding use are regularly sent out to partner organisations. The number of trained users within DHC has risen to over 1000, but the number of active users each month has typically been around 20% of this figure. In mid-February a questionnaire was sent out to all trained users to find out more about how the Trust uses DCR, with a view to increase the figures.
The Trust received 137 responses from a wide variety of clinical and admin roles, including staff responsible for providing care to the elderly, children in care, learning disabilities, and the homeless.
While the figures are impressive – 86% of staff agreeing that DCR saves them time, 77% saying it improves the care they give, and 80% believing that DCR improves patient safety – a richer picture was gained from staff’s own views on the system.
Referrals, Patient Location, Medical Test Results, Medical History, Missing information, Access to Records, Accuracy of information, Everything in One Place, Vaccine Status and not having to contact GP surgeries were all themes for how DCR saves staff valuable time:
“DCR be used for quickly triaging referrals, with details of previous and current referrals and no need to ring GP for missing details”
“Much easier and quicker to find where the patient is and their status when compared to phoning others or using multiple systems”
“Encounters, medication lists, most recent GP encounters, pathology results and previous /current referrals are available”
“Information on X-rays, blood tests, medication is available without the need to call other teams or services”
“No need to email colleagues in order to gain access to other documentation and records or request for them to be sent over”
“Coders are now able to look in one place instead of multiple areas”
“No hanging about on the phone to the receptionist or in a phone queue”
“No need to phone GP surgeries or make contact with other primary care professionals to find out what is going on with a patient”.
An option was also given to the respondents for me to attend team meeting and promote DCR, using the staff feedback to convince others of the benefits. 37 requests were received for this from a wide variety of teams:
Safeguarding, Dieticians, Meds Mgmt, Health visitors, Business Development, Podiatry, Medical Secretaries, Children’s Nursing, Physio, Care Managers, Admin Team Leads, and SALT – amongst others
Response
It’s early days but the figures do seem to show an increase – active users are up 17% in May, and this is expected to rise as more teams are engaged. 100 more staff have been trained in the same period
Perhaps some of the best responses were from staff, with these particular quotes showing the importance that is put on DCR:
“We are all either using DCR or have recently requested to use it as is it crucial to our service. We receive around 200 referrals a month and it makes life a lot easier being able to access key information to help inform our assessments and treatments.”
JG, Memory Assessment Team Leader
“Recently used to gather further information on psych history prior to assessment – DCR was excellent, helped to identify history of abuse and suicide that was not mentioned on referral. Definitely felt much better informed prior to seeing the patient and I was able to guide my questions around certain information I had found on DCR.”
EB, Community Mental Health Nurse
If you would like me to come and promote DCR in YOUR team meeting (virtual or in person), please email me to arrange
John attending Med Team/ACP Team Huddle at King’s Park Hospital, Boscombe, Bournemouth, 13th June:
