Its very exciting to be involved with this innovative project.  I completely agree the world of app development is a new one for us and we are learning so much together…thanks Roisin for sharing our comprehensive update.

1.       What have you learned so far? This could be either from the successes you have had or from where things haven’t gone to plan.

As we delved into our project, we realised how ambitious it truly was. In bringing together the project team and progressing through our scoping engagements, we felt there was “only one way to eat the elephant: one bite at a time”. We have therefore broken down our project into two phases: the first looking at developing the app to support healthcare staff in making improvements to address falls, and the second phase to support healthcare staff in making improvements to address pressure ulcers which will hopefully build on the learning from our Falls work.

We also have reflected on the time it has taken to scope and research ways to develop the app in the HSE. Our Project Team members have delivered Falls and Pressure Ulcer Collaboratives and have experience and knowledge in QI, delivering education programmes, falls prevention, clinical expertise, project management, and the use of digital healthcare; but no one had developed a mobile app before, and we underestimated the amount of time it would take to learn more about this area in the context of our health service. As one of our team members noted, however, this work has been akin to “knowledge PDSAs” as we have had rapid cycles of planning, engaging, learning and action over the last few months which has improved our own knowledge in this new area.

2.       What could others learn from your experience of working with a range of stakeholders and collaborating across boundaries (geographical, professional, sector)? You should cover what is working well and any challenges you have faced.

Our project hit several unexpected roadblocks in terms of progressing the ICT / digital components. As you may be aware, the HSE suffered a major Cyberattack in May 2021, and more stringent ICT protocols and processes have been put in place since then. They are useful as they are safeguarding our digital communications and platforms; however they have also made it more challenging to progress small (relatively speaking) digital healthcare projects such as this one.

In October, we were quite fortunate to partner with a concurrent process to establish learning apps in the HSE through the HSE’s online e-learning platform HSeLanD. We were successful in a competitive EOI bid to partner with a ICT company “ByteKast” which is providing a framework for the app which is in line with the original vision for the app. We have a workshop scheduled for 30th January to map the app content onto the scaffolding, and really look forward to this as it will mark a significant milestone in the development of the app.

We have been overwhelmed with the interest in the app, and have had several services approach us to pilot it which is very encouraging. We have, however, retained our original plan to limit our first tests to a small number of hospitals and community services, as we wish to employ small rapid tests of change before examining ways to spread and sustain the potential improvements.

Our Project Team is from a range of services and teams, many of which would not have worked together before, so we are energised at the opportunities for new staff / service engagement.  We have been exploring ways to involve patient partners in the app development in a meaningful way, and have proposed bringing a patient representative from one of the participating services on to the steering group as an adjunct member, so as not to necessitate their attendance at every team meeting but to welcome their thoughts and feedback as we progress the app development and pilot.

3.       What are the next steps for your project over the coming months? 

We have a significant workshop planned for Monday 30th Jan at which we will be mapping the mobile app content to the ByteKast platform. There will be some fine tuning of the content in the weeks after that, as well as working through the logistics of making the app available to the staff on their mobiles and/or desktops.

We expect to commence the pilot of the app in late March, and will concurrently commence work on the Pressure Ulcers phase of the app in April.

4.       How can the community get involved in your project?

We welcome your thoughts and feedback on our project so far, and invite Q Community colleagues to contact us if you would like to link up and share experiences and learning.

We will be publicising updates regarding the app in our new Quality and Safety Matters Newsletter from our HSE National Quality and Patient Safety Directorate team, of which the inaugural edition is currently in development. If you would like to be added to the distribution list for this newsletter, please contact our QPS Connect team at anneMarie.heffernan1@hse.ie