Somerset NHS Foundation Trust partners with Radar Healthcare to improve patient care

Radar Healthcare, a digital health firm that helps organisations improve patient safety and manage risks, has successfully deployed across Somerset NHS Foundation Trust (Somerset FT).

Radar Healthcare’s quality and compliance software brings together operational and regulatory processes into one platform and will help Somerset FT to identify live incidents, mitigate risks and use real-time information to enhance the safety of their patients.

The system has helped reinforce the governance structure of the organisation by improving communication flow between wards and departments, and providing live information to local managers and frontline staff. This is important as the organisation offers a range of different services that include community, mental health and acute hospital services.

Somerset FT chose Radar Healthcare’s solution because it could replace two systems and offer bespoke functionality, which was important as Somerset Partnership merged with Taunton & Somerset NHS FT to form one Trust. Too often, different software products aren’t able to send information to each other, hindering decision making and impacting patient care, which is why NHS Digital has made interoperability a supplier priority.

Somerset FT worked alongside Radar Healthcare to create a configurable and interoperable solution, which met the trust’s requirements and enabled them to continue delivering excellent patient care as well as improving governance by enabling staff to easily view and action Subject Access Requests, Claims, Freedom of Information requests and other functionality.

Stephen Thomson, associate director of integrated governance at Somerset FT, commented: “Having a way of integrating our knowledge of the organisation into how we manage risk and do governance properly is brilliant. One of our senior nursing managers just loved the idea of having so much more information locally to be able to help her understand her business better.

“I would definitely encourage other NHS trusts to have a look and think about this different way of creating that day-to-day embedded governance.”

The trust also sees Radar Healthcare’s software as an opportunity to provide culture change within the organisation, making it more open and safety-focused, which brings additional benefit to patient care.

Paula Wiggins, governance systems manager at Somerset FT, commented: “The analytical capabilities that Radar Healthcare offers really excites us. Detailed, real-time data makes a big difference in terms of sharing information and understanding trends. We can spot things quickly, whether good or bad. Sharing these insights with everybody to improve the way we work is really exciting.”