08/06/21 – Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust BEST V14 Go Live

Following a successful V14 Go Live we asked the team at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust for some feedback and lessons learned that might help future sites. Here’s what they had to say –

Background:
Working group for best v14 set up September 2019 with monthly meetings reviewing and writing up SOPs for current processes. This generated discussion and ideas about how staff would work going forward and thoughts about what data input should be included.
Process mapping meetings commenced with Dave Rolph in December 2020.
Due to COVID the implementation was all done remotely this including all training sessions, correspondence via SOS ticket system.
Trial go live was done remotely on 19th May 2021. The day went really well and with the immediate remote access to the team any difficulties we had were resolved immediately.
Thanks to the training that had been implemented any initial apprehensions were alleviated once the team were up and running on the system. We also had plenty of NHS superusers on hand to navigate through the system- plenty of sugary snacks also helped!
Go live date was 9th June and we requested David Potter be onsite at THL our contractors to provide support to our wider team.
Ongoing work continues to fine tune the system to the needs of Manchester including all areas of the service.

What went well from Soft options and NHS
• Preparation for the new system including new processes, data collection and stock management.
• The working party, a small group of innovative and dynamic professional with current knowledge of working practices.
• Prompt responses on SOS ticket system from both soft options and NHS. On the run up to both the trial go live and actual go live there was tight communication between Soft Options team and the NHS which provided transparency for all to see which jobs were outstanding – this system worked really well, particularly when cross referencing allocated hours.
• Flexibility to move/ change the training according to requirements eg virtual training.

“Kelly is a dream….she was seamless in training and provided fantastic support. Even with all our demands she remained collected.”

Admin Team Lead

“Charlotte was swift with her replies and provided updates when asked regarding training schedule and time allocated.”

Samantha Rogerson, Clinical Lead Physiotherapist.

“Dave R, has been brilliant to work with, he provided in depth explanations of the process and how funds were allocated. As a newcomer he was fully supportive and provided information, previous emails and signposted me as required, I can’t thank him enough!”

Sarah Bradbury interim centre Manager

What should NHS have considered
From our perspective, on reflection it would have been useful to acknowledge the:
The baseline skill and IT knowledge of all staff, including contractors and for us to ensure everyone was at the same level prior to commencing work with soft options.
The number of super users due to the above and the demands on the group, we should have allocated more super users particularly given the time of year with increased demand for AL
The additional time spent self-learning/teaching due to limitations of remote training offered by soft options. Clinics were reduced, however this still put significant pressures on the superusers, particularly as we are in Covid recovery phase.

Overall Summary
Overall the implementation of BEST V14 went well. The BEST upgrade discussions started prior to the Covid pandemic. Implementation happened during the recovery phase, there had also been a change of centre manager and clinical lead between the discussion and implementation phase.
The staff at Soft Options were extremely helpful, knowledgeable and responsive. Any concerns were listened to and addressed in a timely manner. Solutions were offered to problems and our service needs were fully catered for. The team at Soft Options were always available to offer advice and support.
Extending beyond the go live date there has been continued support and developments in the system.
We can’t thank the team enough for all their hard work, dedication and support that they have provided throughout the entire process and look forward to working with them in the future.