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The North East Neonatal Benchmarking Group Links to benchmarks - see below What is Benchmarking? It is a process through which we identify, share and compare best practice, locally, regionally and nationally. Its origins are from within the business sector where it enabled comparisons to be made industry wide and to improve practices. Why Benchmark? Practices vary from one Neonatal Unit to another. Benchmarking aims to decipher what is best practice and to eliminate these differences so that if babies are transferred to other Neonatal Units in this region, the care the baby receives does not vary greatly and the standard remains constant. Hopefully, this will reduce the stress that families experience, and they will be more familiar with procedures that their baby undergoes. Benchmarking also enables, through sharing of practices, the opportunity for practitioners to offer support and encouragement to each other. It helps to satisfy the requirements of the Clinical governance framework, by actively striving to improve the quality of services provided and promote excellence in clinical care. The North East Benchmarking Group - position statement
This group originally formed in 1997 and have since written a total of 14 Benchmarks. The groups work is below: Support and Education for Nursing Staff Supportive Positioning of the Neonate Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) Benchmark Non Pharmacological Management of Pain
How does it Work?
The group hold 6 meetings per year. January is usually set aside as a business meeting at which we discuss overall progress and plans for the future. At the January meeting in 2003, the group raised concerns that although we had all these benchmarks, action resulting within units lacked consistency and the benchmarks were becoming ‘old’ and consequently needed reviewing.
It was decided therefore that the benchmarking group would form 4 regional sub groups, which would meet on alternate months and each group would commence reviewing a benchmark of their choice. A project approach was taken and a time frame of 4 months per benchmark was initially set. This however, proved to be unrealistic and the timeframe was extended. The reason for this was ultimately the volume of work generated by a project approach. However, the feedback was extremely positive. The workload was evenly distributed amongst group members and has therefore ensured that a wider breadth of evidence has been accumulated and guideline development is enabling implementation into practice. The benchmarks have all been revisited and updated.
The group had decided that action planning should at this stage take priority over writing new benchmarks. However, many of the neonatal units were under pressure within their Trusts to demonstrate action around the Essence of Care benchmarks developed by the Modernisation Agency. Although some Trust groups had not invited representatives from Neonates because they felt these benchmarks were not relevant to the speciality. The benchmarking group decided to adapt these benchmarks to facilitate their use in Neonates. This is an ongoing project along with guideline development and audits.
Where do we go from here?
This will depend largely on discussion at the next Business meeting. However, government initiatives and Clinical Governance agendas are to some extent directing the group towards a more rigorous approach to guideline development, developing a more multidisciplinary focus and devising a system for user involvement. The group works closely with the Improving Care team.
Group Membership
The meetings are open to all interested parties. You may be involved as much or as little as you choose. For example, if you are interested in one specific project then by all means join us for that period of time. All that we ask is that if you commit yourself to a piece of work, you see it through to completion. A list of the dates and venues for next years meetings are currently be compiled and will be made available as soon as possible. All benchmarks are posted on this site.
Essence of Care Benchmarks to date
Recent Projects:
Admission Temperature Audit Privacy and Dignity Audit
Future Projects:
Pain Audit Admission Temperature Audit to include temperature recorded
If you require copies of current benchmarks please contact Denise Evans. NB The benchmark formats are currently being revised to resemble the format of the Essence of Care.
Denise Evans North East Benchmarking Group Chairperson October 2006
To view: Position statement and aims click here For further information regarding Benchmarks contact
Denise.Evans@bradfordhospitals.nhs.uk Tel 01274 364920 |
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Last modified: April, 2006 |
