Welcome to the Right Decision Service (RDS) newsletter for April 2024.
Tactuum has been working hard to address the issues experienced during the last week. They have identified a series of three mitigation measures and put the first of these in place on Friday 3rd May. If this does not resolve the problems, the second mitigation will be actioned, and then the third if necessary.
Please keep a lookout for any slowing down of the system or getting locked out. Please email myself, mbuchner@tactuum.com and onivarova@tactuum.com if you experience any problems, and also please raise an urgent support ticket via the Support Portal.
Thank you for your patience and understanding while we achieve a full resolution.
A rotating carousel presenting some of the key RDS tools and capabilities, and an editable slideset, are now available in the Resources for RDS providers section of the Learning and Support toolkit.
The redesign of RDS Search and Browse is still on-track for delivery by mid-June 2024. We then plan to have a 3-week user acceptance testing phase before release to live. All editors and toolkit owners on this mailing list will be invited to participate in the UAT.
The archiving and version control functionality is also progressing well and we will advise on timescales for user acceptance testing shortly.
Tactuum is also progressing with the deep linking to individual toolkits within the mobile RDS app. There are several unknowns around the time and effort required for this work, which will only become clear as the work progresses. So we need to be careful to protect budget for this purpose.
These have all been compiled and effort estimated. Once the redesign work is complete, these will be prioritised in line with the remaining budget. We expect this to take place around late June.
Many thanks to those of you completed the value and impact survey we distributed in February. Here are some key findings from the 65 responses we received.
Figure 1: Impact of RDS on direct delivery of care
Key figures
Figure 2 shows RDS impact to date on delivery of health and care services
Key figures
These data show how RDS is already contributing to NHS reform priorities and supporting delivery of more sustainable care.
Saving time and money
Quality assurance and governance
Service innovation and workforce development
A few examples of toolkits published to live in the last month:
Some of the toolkits the RDS team is currently working on:
Please contact his.decisionsupport@nhs.scot if you would like to learn more about a toolkit. The RDS team will put you in touch with the relevant toolkit lead.
Thanks to all of you who have responded to the retrospective quality audit survey and to the follow up questions. We still have some following up to do, and to work with owners of a further 23 toolkits to complete responses. An interim report is being presented to the HIS Quality and Performance Committee.
Eight clinical services and two public library services are undertaking tests of change to implement the Being a partner in my care app. This app aims to support patients and the public to become active participants in Realistic Medicine. It has a strong focus on personalised, person-centred care and a library of shared decision aids, as well as simple explanations and videoclips to help the public to understand the aims of Realistic Medicine. The tests of change will inform guidance and an implementation model around wider adoption and spread of the app.
With kind regards
Right Decision Service team
Healthcare Improvement Scotland
This app is for people who have had COVID-19 (with or without a positive COVID-19 test) and have symptoms that last more than four weeks, including:
It may also be helpful for:
This app is based on a patient information booklet which explains the recommendations in a guideline produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) on managing the long-term effects of COVID-19..
The app explains:
Long COVID is a new illness that healthcare professionals are still learning about. Most of the recommendations are based on the experience and expert knowledge of healthcare professionals. Research is taking place and the guidance may change when its results are known.
NICE, RCGP and SIGN are developing the guideline using a ‘living’ approach, which means that the guideline will be reviewed and updated when new research comes out. The patient information booklet and this app will be updated at the same time.
This app has been developed by the SIGN (Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network) team within Healthcare Improvement Scotland, in collaboration with the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI).
Special thanks are due to the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Knowledge Services team, who provided knowledge management support in creating the app structure and adding the content.
SIGN and DHI would also like to thank the people with lived experience of long COVID who advised on the design and content of this app.
We (Healthcare Improvement Scotland) hope that the information in this app/website will be useful to you, but we accept no responsibility and offer no warranties for the content or your use of it, as far as the law allows us to exclude such liability.
Clinical knowledge is constantly changing. As new information becomes available, changes in treatment, procedures, equipment and the use of drugs become necessary. The developers and contributors have taken care to ensure that the information given is correct and current. However, users of this resource are strongly advised to confirm that the information complies with the latest legislation and standards of practice.
All use of this resource is subject to Scots law and the jurisdiction of the Scottish courts and is subject to this disclaimer. Any views given on the site are not necessarily those of Healthcare Improvement Scotland or anyone connected with us.
Healthcare Improvement Scotland is not responsible for the content of external websites which link to or are linked to by this application. This is because:
Some external links may be to websites that also offer commercial services. If a link to a particular website is included on our site, it does not mean that Healthcare Improvement Scotland officially endorses that website, its owners, products or services.
Copyright of the content within this app is retained by SIGN. Users may download or print copies from the app or from the original patient information booklet for their own use.
The review is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence. This allows for the copy and redistribution of SIGN content as long as SIGN is fully acknowledged and given credit. The material must not be remixed, transformed or built upon in any way. View a copy of this licencehere.
We try to make our app easy to use and accessible by including:
We also use plain English in website text to make information as easy as possible to understand.
AbilityNet has more advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
The app complies with the W3CAA standards for accessibility. The one exception is the known issue that screenreaders may have difficulty reading the PDF reports generated by the "Share" function.
Privacy Statement
The downloadable mobile app collects information that you enter into the Symptom Diary about your symptoms and wellbeing.
The information is stored on your mobile device. It is recommended that you:
Please be aware that if you delete the SIGN Long COVID app or reinstall a new copy over the existing one, your saved data will be deleted. You may wish to use the “Share” functionality to generate a PDF report of your data, and save it on your own device.
If you choose to use the “Share” option to email another person a PDF report from your diary plus your name and date of birth, the message is sent with secure encryption using a system called Sendgrid.
If you have any enquiries about privacy of your information please contact decisionsupport@dhi-scotland.com .
SIGN Patient information: managing the long term effects of COVID-19
