Right Decision Service newsletter: July 2024

Welcome to the Right Decision Service (RDS) newsletter for July 2024.

1.Redesign and improvements to RDS

There has been a delay in implementing the final phase of the RDS redesign due to Tactuum having to prioritise the recent security and outage issues. Work has now resumed, and the intention now is that external user acceptance testing will start in September 2024.

As a reminder, the key improvements in this release include the following responses to user feedback:

Full redesign of search and browse to make it easier for users to go straight to the toolkits specific to their health board or to national toolkits. There is also a Favourites capability which enables users to access their most important toolkits directly without any search or browse requirements.
Comprehensive archiving and version control functionality.
Capability to customise and edit shared documents, save local version, and receive notification when the parent shared document is updated. The recipient of the shared document can then choose which edits to accept or ignore. This will significantly expand the opportunities for sharing guidance and collaboration across organisations and for localisation of national guidance.
Capability to provide a URL or QR code which will take the user direct to a specific downloadable mobile toolkit without requiring them to search and browse within the RDS mobile app. This should make for a simpler user journey. It should particularly help clinicians who want to signpost patients to download a specific mobile toolkit.

2. Migration of standalone apps to new RDS platform

Migration of the final two original standalone apps (NHS GGC paediatrics) was completed in July 2024. This means that the RDS is now truly the Once for Scotland platform for all web and mobile apps created using the RDS toolset. This has streamlined and simplified the processes around fixes, enhancements and release processes. The recent security issues are a case in point – previously these would have had to be addressed across 27 standalone apps as well as the RDS platform.

3. Evaluation - usage statistics

Figures 1 and 2 are derived from the usage statistics reports we generated in July 2024. They show how usage of the RDS has increased over the past 2.5 years. Figure 1 shows combined usage[1] across old standalone apps and the new Once for Scotland RDS platform. 2023 saw a 71% increase in usage over 2022 figures, and the usage in just 6 months of 2024 almost equals total use in 2022. Figure 2 shows use of the new RDS platform only. Usage in just 6 months of 2024 has increased by more than 100% compared with all 12 months of 2023.

As stated in a previous newsletter, there are caveats around comparison of use on the old and new platforms due to the different structures of each. Now that all the old standalone apps have been migrated to the new RDS platform we will focus primarily on usage of the new platform going forward.

4. Strategic highlights – supporting NHS Scotland priorities

Neurological Conditions Framework

The RDS will be supporting the SG Clinical Priorities team by delivering regional and national neurology guidance and shared decision-making resources.

Waiting Well programme

The RDS team has been working with the NHS GGC Knowledge Services team to deliver a national toolkit for the Waiting Well programme. This will provide resources and tools for services supporting patients to maintain wellbeing while on waiting lists.

Feasibility study for Value-Based Health and Care Action Plan

The RDS team has delivered an evidence review and report of stakeholder interviews to inform consideration by Scottish Government of the potential for a national approach to implementation of Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) across NHS Scotland. The final component of the feasibility study – a report on target architecture and realistic first steps towards delivery.

Gender Identity Standards

An RDS toolkit for the new Gender Identity Standards, including an interactive self-assessment questionnaire, is being developed in collaboration with the Standards and Indicators team in Healthcare Improvement Scotland. This toolkit should be published as part of a package of resources to be announced by Scottish Government in early October.

Please email ann.wales3@nhs.scot if you would like to know more about any of these developments.

5.National IV fluid prescribing calculator

We are now in the final stages of producing the UK CA marking documentation for this calculator and aim to publish it to live at the end of August 2024.

6. Training

6.1 Training sessions for new editors (these also serve as refresher sessions for existing editors) will take place on the following dates:

Wednesday 7 August 4-5 pm
Thursday 5 September 1-2 pm

To book a place, please contact Olivia.graham@nhs.scot, providing your name, organisation, job role, and level of experience with RDS editing (none, a little, moderate, extensive.)

7. New toolkits

The NHS Grampian critical care toolkit is now live.

The following toolkits are due to go live imminently:

Care Inspectorate staffing method framework.
Vascular surgery pathways from the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme within the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare Delivery.

8. Implementation projects

The RDS team has delivered a report for the SG Realistic Medicine Policy Unit on an implementation framework for digital tools to engage people in decisions about their care. The report was produced to support implementation of the Being a partner in my care: Realistic Medicine together app, but has wider applicability to shared decision-making apps more generally. Please contact ann.wales3@nhs.scot if you would like to know more about the key findings and recommendations within this report.

If you have any questions about the content of this newsletter, please contact his.decisionsupport@nhs.scot If you would prefer not to receive future newsletters, please email Olivia.graham@nhs.scot and ask to be removed from the circulation list.

With kind regards

Right Decision Service team

Healthcare Improvement Scotland

The Right Decision Service: the national decision support platform for Scotland’s health and care

Website: https://rightdecisions.scot.nhs.uk Mobile app download: Apple Android

[1] Unique users’ in Google analytics counts individual users to a website. Every time a user visits the website, their IP address assigns a unique identifier which is used to track the number of times they visit the site.