Pilots and Roll Out

Local NHS organisations are required to record, audit and monitor information and performance in relation to the newborn examinations. To support local NHS organisations in meeting these requirements the NIPE Programme has worked with stakeholders including paediatricians/neonatologists, midwives, registrars, trainee doctors, child health department heads and GPs.

That work has helped develop a specification for a screening management system to underpin service delivery of the newborn and infant physical examinations. This collaboration produced a common set of principles and objectives for what the screening management system must achieve. Of crucial importance, stakeholders felt, was that it must be of benefit to clinicians.

An Output Based Specification (OBS) was drawn up and put out to tender. Following due process, Northgate Information Solutions was awarded the contract. The broad timetable for trialling and evaluating the screening management system is detailed below.

Phase 1 - Proof of Concept

Between November 2009 and April 2010, three maternity hospitals: Newcastle Royal Victoria Infirmary, Warrington Hospital and Royal Free Hospital in London, took part in the proof of concept phase. This feasibility phase focussed on testing the new draft screening management system and associated processes.  This involved the capture and management of information from the newborn examinations of a proportion of the babies born at these hospitals.  On completion, the Proof of Concept “laboratory” stage was fully evaluated to inform testing the system further at the Pilot “real world” stage.  

Phase 2 - Pilot

Piloting of the NIPE Screening Management And Reporting Tools was carried out between June 2011 and March 2012 and involved capturing information from the physical examinations of over 30,000 babies in 17 NHS Trusts.  Subsequently, this phase was robustly evaluated so that learning could be incorporated into the next phase, national rollout.

The pilot Trusts were: Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, East Cheshire NHS Trust, Guys and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London., Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Lewisham Healthcare NHS Trust, Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, South London Healthcare NHS Trust, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Warrington & Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Between the completion of the Pilot Phase in 2012 and the commencement of rollout in 2013, pilot sites continued to use the SMART IT system with full support from the NIPE Programme.

Phase 3 - National Roll Out

In March 2013, the NIPE Programme received approval from the Department of Health to roll out its quality improvement programme, including the screening management system and service transformation package in England, starting in April 2013.