PULSE: Datix selected by PULSE for clinical governance and patient safety

Leading independent community healthcare and recruitment services provider implements Datix patient safety software

PULSE, a leading UK health and social care staffing and services business, has implemented Datix web-based patient safety software for incident reporting, risk management and clinical governance. Only six months after deployment, PULSE is able to report the true number of complaints, can differentiate incidents from complaints and senior management have a clear and consolidated view of the risks and outcomes of patient safety incidents across the organisation. 

Established nearly 25 years ago, PULSE has broadened its original recruitment remit by responding to the fast-growing demand for care outside hospital and investing heavily in the development of specialist care packages for community healthcare operations. As a result, PULSE has adapted its processes and installed a new technology platform to manage clinical governance across its business portfolio and comply with the mandates of external regulators.

In March 2010, PULSE appointed Karen Matthews-Shard as Clinical Director to head up clinical governance. Prior to PULSE, Karen had implemented Datix patient safety software successfully at Nuffield Health. She presented a sound business case to her new Board of Directors that Datix was flexible and would yield beneficial results for PULSE.

Datix has been implemented in both the company’s traditional recruitment business and its growing Community Health Care business. Karen Matthews-Shard, Clinical Director at PULSE explained, “Our requirements are very diverse but Datix has enabled us to prove that PULSE has a robust governance process. This makes it a powerful business tool and gives us distinct competitive advantage. Thanks to Datix we have a high impact governance structure that helps us to monitor, investigate and take appropriate action. Most importantly we can now share lessons learnt and best practice across the whole organisation.” 

All healthcare organisations must report complaints to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the health and social care regulator for England, when requested. However, after careful analysis of PULSE’s own reporting, Karen discovered that PULSE was at risk of over-reporting. Karen explained, “By its very nature, community care is a high risk area for incidents and complaints but only real complaints should be reported to the CQC and because the previous system was unable to differentiate between adverse events, incidents and complaints, we were potentially over-reporting. In fact true complaints represented only a small proportion of the total number being recorded. Datix enables us to reflect an accurate situation and provides far more control over the incidents and complaints process.” 

The ability of Datix to partition information quickly and accurately has helped PULSE to transfer the value of the solution to other parts of the business and overcome the challenge of monitoring the activities of people on client sites. For example, PULSE is responsible for a large number of temporary doctors, nurses, social workers and other allied health professionals in addition to its community healthcare staff. Datix is flexible enough to cover all eventualities and accurately track the exact number and nature of incidents or complaints by each business division. 

The deployment of Datix has yielded a range of significant benefits for PULSE, not least client confidence and employee morale. Increased visibility within the Datix system of all incidents, adverse events and complaints has led to a build up of trust with clients who have proof that PULSE has effective measures in place to deal with issues efficiently and quickly. At the same time, employees and agency workers know that when they report something it will be dealt with and the outcome, with any associated feedback, communicated back to them. 

“PULSE can be a demanding and fast-paced environment but Datix listened to our needs and adapted the solution to match our requirements completely. The expertise and knowledge of the people at Datix coupled with excellent training and ongoing support makes them an outstanding partner,” added Karen Matthews-Shard. 

Karen and her team also plan to use Datix to develop a central governance programme across the newly formed group following the acquisition of PULSE by Independent Clinical Services (ICS) in November 2010. This will identify trends and areas for improvement and scope out a rigorous training programme for 2011 and beyond, all part of the company’s commitment to continuous improvement.

Jonathan Hazan, Chief Executive of Datix, concluded, “With increasing regulation and a demand for higher quality services, companies like PULSE need greater control over what is happening in their organisation. Datix provides them with a powerful business tool that gives them distinct competitive advantage. Datix highlights the value that technology can bring to underpinning processes that enhance customer confidence, improve patient safety and deliver excellent patient care.”
-ends-

About PULSE
PULSE is a leading health and social care staffing and services business with a 2010 turnover of £168 million. PULSE provides a broad range of specialist health and social care professionals to customers in the UK and abroad in both temporary and permanent jobs. Through dedicated divisions, PULSE provides outsourced bank management services to large NHS Trusts and delivers care and nursing support to people with complex conditions in their own homes. 
Established nearly 25 years ago, PULSE has moved with the times, responding to the fast-growing demand for care outside hospital by investing heavily in the development of specialist care packages in the home and in the community.
In 2010, for the second year running, PULSE was named Staffing Agency of the Year by the respected industry publication, Health Investor. With over 400 staff, it also ranks in the top 50 of the Sunday Times ‘100 Best Companies to work for’. 
For more information, please visit: www.pulsejobs.com
About Datix 
Datix has been a pioneer in the field of patient safety since 1986 and is today the leading supplier of software for patient safety, risk management, incident and adverse event reporting. Datix aims to help healthcare organisations build a culture and practice that drives excellence in patient safety. Datix recruits and retains people committed to the healthcare sector and continually invests in its software and services to ensure that it integrates best practice and learning. 

Datix is focused on the health and social care sector - customers include public and private hospitals, primary care providers, GP surgeries, mental health and ambulance service providers. Datix clients also include organisations delivering care home and domiciliary care services. Within the UK this includes more than 70% of the National Health Service. Internationally the Datix client base is growing rapidly and includes large scale deployments in Canada and the USA as well as clients in Europe and Australia. 

Datix is headquartered in London, United Kingdom. To learn more, visit www.datix.co.uk or call +44 (0)20 8971 1971

For further information please contact:
Mary Phillips/Andreina West
PR Artistry Limited
Tel: +44 (0)1491 639500
Email: mary@pra-ltd.co.uk