How long will the scale take to complete?

It usually takes 1-2 hours to discuss the GRS with your team and agree the responses to the measures. It will then take a member of staff approximately 10 minutes to input the answers onto the online system.

When can we view our data?

You can view your own data as soon as you have submitted it.

Who should be involved in the completion of the scale?

We would recommend that the whole team has an opportunity to discuss and contribute to the completion of the scale. The following members of staff are key to this process: the nurse lead; the clinical lead; and the operational manager for the unit.

Why is it important for the nurse lead, the clinical lead and the operational manager for the unit to be involved in the discussions?

It is important to have a cross-section of professional groups involved in completing the scale to get an accurate assessment of whether a measure has been achieved. This will ensure full engagement and ownership by the team. Action plans arising from the GRS are more likely to be achieved if the GRS is scored in this way.

How does the scale support service improvement?

The starting point when the GRS was created was to ask the question: what matters to the patient?  We believe service improvement is all about making it better for the patient and the GRS is about identifying the gaps in patient care. Once you now where the gaps are, and how big they are, you can start prioritising your efforts to improve the service.  There are help screens behind the majority of the measures that will provide you with all the knowledge we have, to help you achieve a positive response to that measure. Additionally, there is a knowledge Management System (KMS) that can provide you with a variety of information:

• General information
• generic processes that you may wish to copy or modify
• guidelines on clinical care, auditable outcomes or pathways
• examples of best practice or ways to solve problems
• service improvement information
• data collection tools
• sample business cases
• key contacts
• sample presentations
• links to other websites

The highest scores on the scale seem unobtainable because we are fire fighting all the time.  Is it realistic to expect to achieve them?