East London NHS Foundation Trust Case Study
East London NHS Foundation Trust is a mental health trust which provides services to the City of London, the London Boroughs of Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Newham. The Trust also provides forensic services to the London Boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge and Waltham Forest, and provides some specialist mental health services to North London, Hertfordshire and Essex.
It provides a range of community, outpatient and inpatient services for children and young people, adults and older people.
The Trust’s Headquarters are located in Tower Hamlets however it operates from a network of 50 community sites, four main inpatient sites and it has 640 inpatient beds. The Trust has an income of £184.8 million and most of this comes from local Primary Care Trusts.
The Trust is linked with the University of London, City University and South Bank University.
Due to it’s wide operating area the Trust has professionals operating as Lone Workers within the community and following a comprehensive procurement process involving the available Lone Worker solutions Argyll’s Mobicare and Procare services were chosen by a steering group comprising of procurement professionals, risk managers, unions and end users as being the most effective service and best value for the organisation. A major deciding factor was the flexibility designed within the solution that enabled the Trust to use staff issued mobile phones in addition to discreet devices that could be issued to staff based on risk assessments. Further flexibility enabling the sharing of devices also catered for staff shift working patterns. The Argyll Lone Worker solutions enable the Trust to provide a consistent approach for risk management and support all lone working staff across the organisation.
The Solution
Over 300 staff utilise a combination of their existing mobile phones and Identicare devices to summon immediate assistance from police or colleagues should they find themselves in a potentially hazardous situation. The mobile phones and devices are linked to the Procare risk management system which confirms their safe return at the end of their shift and ensures safety following completion of a Lone Worker visit. This system is bolstered 24/7/365 by Argyll’s integrated BS8484 compliant Alarm Receiving Centre and comprehensive mapping systems that enable it’s operators to determine the location of end users during any incidents.
The Lone Worker is in control and provided with reassurance knowing he or she is just a single button press away from quickly and discreetly summoning assistance should they feel at risk. Using a preconfigured button on their mobile phone, they can issue a duress signal, which instantly alerts Argyll’s Alarm Receiving Centre and simultaneously opens a voice channel enabling operators to listen in. When an alert is received, Argyll’s trained operators put into effect an agreed incident management procedure and if required, use existing links with the police to ensure a swift response. Sophisticated voice recording ensures that every incident is captured and can be produced in evidence if required.
Trust management are provided with an effective outsourced solution with a managed escalation procedure 24/7/365. Managers can continue with their normal duties confident in the knowledge that staff daily exposure to risk is being constantly monitored and that formal policy actions that exceed the minimum requirement of the NHS Security Management Service will be carried out on their behalf to ensure the safety of staff.
East London NHS Foundation Trust have been working in partnership with Argyll for 3 years and have recently renewed their contract with Argyll. The deployment of Mobicare, Procare and it’s devices have enabled the NHS Trust to develop and improve their Lone Worker policy and systems. The major benefits from the deployment of the Argyll Lone Worker solution are its simplicity and ease of use, the reassurance provided to staff, and it’s continued flexibility in meeting the needs of their risk assessments. As part of it’s continuing development, East London NHS Trust are currently evaluating the new Internet services which provide live access to staff personal details and activity reports.
Further Information
For further information on the Argyll Procare and Mobicare Solutions:
