For a typical sized Trust, save £25,000 per year in staff costs associated with collecting relevant and current compliance data. Provide data and evidence of sound processes, to support NHSLA audits and cost savings associated with positive audit outcomes. Identify risk management issues before they result in dangerous or costly practice! Team self-assessment results in a “compliance dashboard. Collect data regularly, in a quick and transparent way, which encourages a culture of continuous improvement. Data collection tools are updated by Community Services Wandsworth on a cyclical basis thereby ensuring that by using this tool, you are collecting the appropriate data for a wide range of audit and compliance purposes.

Assurance, Risk and Governance

Team Tool

Community Services Wandsworth have partnered with Think Associates and ikonami Ltd to offer the Team Tool to other NHS organisations.

The Team Tool is a web-based risk and compliance toolkit which encourages teams within an organisation to reflect on best practice standards and then provide evidence based information as to how they are addressing risk management, compliance and quality improvement requirements.

The Team Tool is made up of twelve separate audit tools, each of which deals with a key governance topic such as health promotion and medical devices. All or specific teams in your organisation would be required to complete an audit tool every month. Teams would use the tools to stimulate discussion about their own performance before responding to specific questions regarding compliance with local and national policy. Another benefit of the tool is that it is set up to provide online resources and e-learning development opportunities. When gaps in compliance are identified, each tool provides space for teams to record their specific action plan for quality improvement.

Scope of the Team Tool

The Team Tool runs on a single, secure database, which means that over time organisations and teams using the same toolkits can chose to benchmark their progress with other healthcare organisations whilst retaining their anonymity.Governance teams can run reports of results, analyse and summarise them. Information can then be used for the following:

• Benchmarking, year-on-year and against other organisations and norms.
• Presentations to executive teams.
• Demonstrating compliance to the Care Quality Commission and NHS Litigation Authority.
• Reports for other auditing bodies.
• Tracking of local team improvement plans.
• Organisation-wide interventions.

The Team Tool contains specific toolkits which gather in-depth data covering the following aspects of clinical governance and risk management:

• Respect, Privacy and Dignity
• Infection Control
• Health and Safety Returns
• Medical Devices
• Records Audit and Information Governance Returns
• Supervision Returns
• Consent Audit
• Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults
• Health Promotion
• Patient and Public Leaflets and Information
• Risk Assessments
• Clinical Standard and Policies

Each of the twelve toolkits is updated where necessary each year by the clinical governance and risk management department at Community Services Wandsworth.

Features of the Team Tool

• Proven effectiveness by Community Services Wandsworth, who have been using this approach for two years.
• A set of standard, best practice audit topics covering the large number of NHSLA, Healthcare Commission and Essence of Care standards, all mapped to the Knowledge and Skills Framework.
• An intuitive, web based interface where teams respond to audit questions via a simple and easy set of questions. No specific IT skills or set-up required. If your team members have access to the internet and can, for example, use email or buy a book online, they can use this tool!
• The ability for organisations to link questions to national and local resources to provide teams with immediate development updates.
• Space for teams to discuss and record action plans and for the organisation to manage activity against these action plans, supporting existing objective / appraisal processes in place.
• The ability to create rapid dashboard reports for boards, clinical governance managers and specialist team leaders to help them instantly identify areas for improvement and areas of excellence that can be shared by other teams.
• Integrated with the e-KSF allowing work structures to be carried across from ESR if required.
• Each tool is mapped to the Knowledge and Skills Framework, allowing team members to use their quality improvement and risk management actions as evidence in their KSF reviews.

Click here to download the Team Tool Fact Sheet

Click here to download a version of the Fact Sheet presented at the QIPP conference January 2010

If you are interested in finding out more about the Team Tool, please contact us for further information or to arrange a demonstration or visit the Team Tool website.

If you would like further information on contact us.