SH CP 200 Message Taking Procedure Children and Family Services Summary: Keywords: Target Audience: Process for documenting and managing messages received Message taking, record keeping, Health Visiting, School Nursing, Children in Care, Family Nurse Partnership Health Visiting, School Nursing, Children in Care and Family Nurse Partnership teams Next Review Date: July 2019 Approved & Ratified by: Children s Division Quality and Governance Committee (virtually) Date of meeting: 20 Date issued: Author: Director: Jane Levers Professional Lead for School Nursing Julia Baker Specialist Nurse Safeguarding Children Chris Ash, Director of Integrated Services (MCP, West) 1
Quick Reference Guide Messages received within Health Visiting, School Nursing, Children in Care and Family Nurse Partnership teams must be recorded on a template (Appendix 1)and in the applicable Electronic Patient Record as soon as possible to aid information sharing and clinical decision making. The guidance sets out the process that should be followed by all teams. For telephone calls that are actioned immediately these will only need to be recorded in the electronic patient record. If the intended recipient is not available to action the call immediately, then the call should be recorded using Appendix 1. 2
Contents Section Title Page 1. Introduction 4 2. Who does this policy apply to? 4 3. Definitions 4 4. Duties and responsibilities 5 5. Message taking procedure 5 6. Training requirements 6 7. Monitoring compliance 6 8. Policy review 6 9. Associated trust documents 6 10. Supporting references 6 Appendix 1 Message Taking Template 7 3
Message taking procedure 1. Introduction A standardised message taking procedure is required in all teams within the Children and Families Division following the recommendations from a Serious Case Review. Messages received within Health Visiting, School Nursing, Children in Care and Family Nurse Partnership teams must be recorded on a template (Appendix 1) and in the applicable Electronic Patient Record as soon as possible to aid information sharing and clinical decision making. This guidance sets out the process that should be followed by all teams. 2. Who does this policy apply to? This procedure applies to all staff within Children and Family services 3. Definitions Message Message taking refers to the response to telephone calls made into the Health Visiting, School Nursing, Children in Care and Family Nurse Partnership teams. This process is not required for telephone calls that are actioned immediately; these will only need to be recorded in the electronic patient record by the practitioner taking the call. If a practitioner is not available to action the call immediately, then the call should be recorded on the message taking template (Appendix 1). Multi-agency Safeguarding Hub [MASH] The Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) provides triage and multi-agency assessment of safeguarding concerns in respect of vulnerable children and adults. It brings together professionals from a range of agencies into an integrated multi-agency team. The MASH team makes assessments and decisions depending on statutory need, child protection or early help. Quicker response times, a co-ordinated approach and better informed decision making ensures that vulnerable children and adults are protected. Review of information within health records is an essential part of MASH and enables joint decision making. Serious Case Review Serious case reviews [SCR] help us understand how and why children have come to harm. A SCR takes place if abuse or neglect is known, or suspected, to have been involved and a child has died or a child has been seriously harmed and there is cause for concern about how organisations or professionals worked together to safeguard the child or the child dies in custody or a child died by suspected suicide. Duty system Health Visiting and School Nursing teams have a system where a Health Visitor or School Nurse/ Community Staff nurse is available on a rota basis for all or part of a day to answer calls from service-users and professionals 4
4. Duties and responsibilities Southern Health Board Southern Health Board has the responsibility to ensure that the health contribution to the Health Visiting and School Nursing Services are discharged across Southern Health through commissioning processes. Senior Management Team The Senior Management team leads in all aspects of the Health Visiting and School Nursing services and will ensure that there is adherence to relevant clinical policies. Clinical Team Leaders Clinical Team Leaders are responsible for the daily operational management of the Health Visiting and School Nursing services and are required to ensure all staff are suitably trained and competent to deliver this role and that relevant policies are adhered to. Compliance to the guideline will be audited annually and exceptions to service delivery will be raised with the Senior Management Team. Health Visiting, Family Nurse Partnership, Children in Care and School Nursing Teams Health Visiting, Family Nurse Partnership, Children in Care and School Nursing Teams are responsible for complying with this guideline, and for raising any exceptions to service delivery to their line manager. 5. Message taking procedure All messages received into the team, not immediately actioned by a practitioner must be recorded on an electronic or paper template [appendix 1]. Paper copies of the template must be numbered and secured in a file. Messages should be recorded on a single template within the team and entered chronologically. As these contain patient identifiable information they must be stored securely and locked away at the end of each day. Electronic copies must be stored on a secure shared drive. All staff within the team have a responsibility to review and update the template on a daily basis so that messages are dealt with in a timely manner. Teams may manage this through a team duty system. All paper and electronic templates must be retained at base for two years as per retention requirements Client related message 5.1 Basic client details must be recorded on the template. This should include Date and time of message received Who the message is for Caller s name, designation/relationship and contact number Client s name and date of birth Whether it was on an answer machine or in person For answer machine messages, the time and date that the message was left should be recorded in the progress note and with the time it was removed from the answerphone i.e. 15.00 -Answerphone message received on [date] at [time].. Update the template to show that the message has been entered into the RiO record 5.2 Basic Information that a call has been received must also be entered immediately onto the relevant RiO record in the progress notes 5
5.3 Template message to be reviewed by clinical staff member and appropriate actions taken. All referrals from whatever source (including children, young people and families transferring in) receive a response to the referrer within 5 working days, with contact made with the family within 10 working days. Urgent referrals, including all safeguarding referrals, must receive a same day or next working day response to the referrer and contact within 2 working days. These should be recorded in the client s Electronic Patient Record Client related messages - Answerphone 5.4 It is important that messages are only left on the main team phone number. Every effort should be made to direct the clients to the correct numbers for contacting the teams. All staff mobile phones must have a message stating that messages must not be left on this number as it is not checked, please phone.. where a message can be left 5.5 Team answerphones must be set to the correct date and time and checked for messages daily. 5.6 Answerphone messages should be recorded on the template and in the Electronic Patient Record following the process outlined in point 5.1 as soon as they have been listened to. 5.7 Tick the answer machine box on the template Non client related messages 5.9 Record on template and action appropriately 6. Training requirements Training will be given at induction and on an ongoing basis as part of record keeping training 7. Monitoring compliance Trust Peer review Message taking Audit 8. Policy review Three yearly unless a change is required sooner 9. Associated trust documents SH IG 01 Clinical Record Keeping policy SH CP 72 Children s Community Public Health 0-19 Service Overarching Policy SH CP 56 Safeguarding Children s Policy SH CP 60 GP Communication Guideline SH CP 173 Children s Services Standard Operating Procedure 10. Supporting references Nursing and Midwifery Council record keeping standards 6
Appendix 1 Message Taking Template Date/ time message received. Received by Message for From [Name of caller] Caller s Telephone number MESSAGE [Subject of message or Name and Date of birth of client/ child] In person Answer Machine Message Date and time of message left Entered in Progress Notes. Added to child s risk history [if relevant] HCP Acknowledge receipt and action Date and time Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 7