Welcome to the Right Decision Service (RDS) newsletter for August 2024.
Following the recent RDS outages, Tactuum and the RDS team have been reviewing the learning from these incidents. We are committed to doing all we can to ensure a positive outcome by strengthening the RDS to make it fully robust and clinically resilient for the future.
We would like to invite you to a webinar on 26th September 3-4 pm on national and local contingency planning for future RDS outages. Tactuum and the RDS team will speak about our business continuity plans and the national contingency arrangements we are putting in place. This will also be a space to share local contingency plans, ideas and existing good practice. We would also like to gather your views on who we should send communications to in the event of future outages.
I have sent a meeting request for this date to all editors – please accept or decline to indicate attendance, and please forward on to relevant contacts. You can also contact Olivia.graham@nhs.scot directly to register your interest in participating.
2.National IV fluid prescribing calculator
This UK CA marked calculator is now live at https://righdecisions.scot.nhs.uk/ivfluids . It has been developed by a multiprofessional steering group of leads in IV fluids management, as part of the wider Modernising Patient Pathways Programme within the Centre for Sustainable Delivery. It aims to address a known cause of clinical error in hospital settings, and we hope it will be especially useful to the new junior doctors who started in August.
Please do spread the word about this new calculator and get in touch with any questions.
The following toolkits are now live;
We have updated and simplified this guidance within our standard operating procedures. We have clarified the guidance on how to determine whether an RDS tool is a medical device, and have provided an interactive powerpoint slideset to steer you through the process.
We have developed a guide to support editors and toolkit leads through the process of scoping, designing, delivering, quality assuring and implementing a new RDS toolkit. We hope this will help in project planning and in building shared understanding of responsibilities throughout the full development process. The guide emphasises that the project does not end with launch of the new toolkit. Implementation, communication and evaluation are ongoing activities throughout the lifetime of the toolkit.
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 Evaluation projects
Dr Stephen Biggart from NHS Lothian has kindly shared with us the results of a recent survey of use of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh Anaesthesia toolkit. This shows that the majority of consultants are using it weekly or monthly, mainly to access clinical protocols, with a secondary purpose being education and training purposes. They tend to find information by navigating by specialty rather than keyword searching, and had some useful recommendations for future development, such as access to quick reference guidance.
We’d really appreciate you sharing any other local evaluations of RDS in this way – it all helps to build the evidence base for impact.
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
Below are general patient information resources supported by NHS Highland that you may find useful. Further localised information is listed under the illnesses and conditions section.
NHS Highland webpages
http://www.nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk/Pages/welcome.aspx
Local information on health and health resources.
ALISS
https://www.aliss.org/
ALISS (A Local Information System for Scotland) is a search and collaboration tool for Health and Wellbeing in Scotland.
Highland Council Welfare Support Team
https://www.highland.gov.uk/directory_record/102970/benefit_advice/category/108/housing
To advise you about all the benefits and other entitlements that are available, undertake benefit checks to ensure you are not missing out on any benefits, provide assistance to help you complete the relevant forms and help you with advice and support if your application for benefit is turned down or you do not receive the amount you were expecting.
Citizen's Advice Bureau/Citizen's Advice Scotland
https://www.cas.org.uk/about-us/citizens-advice-bureaux
Citizens Advice Bureau are local, independent charities that provide free and confidential advice and information whoever you are and whatever your problem.
The Patient Advice and Support Service (PASS)
https://www.cas.org.uk/pass
Free, confidential, and independent advice and support for patients of the NHS in Scotland. This is an independent service which provides free, accessible and confidential information, advice and support to patients, their carers and families about NHS healthcare. PASS is delivered by Citizens Advice Bureau in Scotland.
Mygov.scot
https://www.mygov.scot/local-benefits-advice/
Getting local benefits and advice.
Age Scotland - Love later life
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/scotland/money-matters/claiming-benefits/
Information and advice to help you claim all the benefits you are entitled to.
Advocacy Highland
https://www.advocacy-highland.org.uk/
Highland Carers Advocacy
http://www.highlandcarersadvocacy.org.uk/
Highland Senior Citizens Network
http://www.hscn.co.uk/
People First
https://peoplefirstscotland.org/
Advocacy for people with learning disabilities
TAM (Treatments and Medicines) NHS Highland