Wales NHS slammed over data

Friday, April 24, 2009

Patient data recording is not a routine task the Welsh Audit Office (WAO) has said in a critical report on hospitals in Wales.

The report, 'Unscheduled care – patient handovers at hospital emergency departments' found that collecting data on patients is not a regular occurrence in A&E departments and often the equipment used to collect data does not work properly.

The report detailed staff at the Welsh hospitals who are brink of apathy when it comes to dealing with data entry. Staff do not understand that when a screen saver is showing it does not mean that the data terminal is out of service. These terminals are often place in improper locations such as secluded areas or ones that are extremely busy. Many staff therefore do not visit the terminals on a regular basis to enter patient data.

Overall staff attitudes are lagging. They feel "over-monitored" by the entry process while many do not understand why the data must be entered in the first place.

WAO officials called upon the NHS to ensure that staff are educated on the need for patient data collection. They also called for paramedics and hospital staff to work more closely together to ensure that data is collected and entered.

Auditor general for Wales Jeremy Colman said: "The NHS in Wales needs to take a firmer grip on patient handover times. Excessive handover times at emergency departments affect capacity within the unscheduled care system because ambulance crews are consequently unavailable to take the next call.

"I hope the NHS will take on the recommendations outlined in my report, and that acute trusts and the ambulance trust will work together more effectively to improve the situation."