Nicola Irving BSc, MFAAM, DipNEBOSH, CertIOSH, Estates Health and Safety Manager at The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, speaks about the Trust’s use of Reset services.
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NUTH) is one of the largest NHS Trusts in the UK with around 16,000 staff and it provides healthcare to communities across the North East of England and beyond.
The Estate portfolio is varied in its composition and location and incorporates Grade II and Grade II* premises on the city centre Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) site, 1970’s buildings at the Freeman Hospital and various property types on the Campus for Ageing and Vitality and community premises spread across the North East.
Reset was adopted in 2020 to consolidate contractor management arrangements into one system, simplify processes for Trust staff and to support the Trust in demonstrating effective delivery of its statutory obligations related to contractor management.
Historical contractor management arrangements relied on manual collation of key information which was often inconsistent and difficult to audit. Reset provides a single mechanism to manage:
Employers, Product and Public Liability insurance records
Contractor Health, Safety, Environmental and Quality Policies
HSE Prosecutions or Improvement Notice records
Individual operatives qualifications, training and professional registration records
Site/task specific Risk Assessments and Method Statements (‘’RAMS’’)
COSHH assessments
Equipment testing and calibration records.
There were initial challenges with the implementation of the system into Trust working practices due to COVID but a recent initiative to engage more meaningfully with our established cohort of contractors has developed a better understanding and engagement with a fully electronic contractor management system. The reinforcement of Reset as a single signing in/out mechanism is contributing towards more collaborative relationships and partnerships with our established contractors and suppliers, encouraging organisations to invest the time and effort to continuously improve the health, safety and wellbeing for all.
We have installed an additional touchscreen terminal on our RVI site to increase access to the Reset system and installed the mobile Reset Access terminals in public access areas so that they can be accessed 24 hours a day.
The repository for competence records is one of the key benefits of the system as it allows our staff to interrogate the skills and expertise of the operatives on site instantly via the dashboard.
The recent engagement work has resulted in a significant increase in contractor logins between January 2023 and February 2024 compared to the same period the year before. The average number of monthly logins has increased by 161% but there is still more we can do.
The Trust is considering moving our Contractor Induction onto the Reset Site Induction module in order to reduce the administrative burden of double handling contractor information and constantly updating and monitoring spreadsheets. Having the induction alongside signing in/out records is a resource improvement that will give better oversight of contractor compliance with Trust requirements.
Internal Safe Operating Procedures are being developed which provide simple ‘How to’ guides to help internal staff interact more easily with the system.
It is the desire of the Estates team not just to accept minimum legal standards but to strive to promote a culture which seeks the highest standard of health and safety practice in the things we do. Reset supports this objective and existing arrangements through simple, interactive tools.
