Twenty-nine acute sites have transitioned to NIMS ePOE

Twenty-nine acute sites have transitioned to electronic point of entry (ePOE) reporting on the national incident management system (NIMS), according to the HSE. Six additional sites are scheduled to make the transition this year.

The plan for the remaining 13 acute sites is in the “early stages of development”. Phase two of the project will focus on community sites.

The HSE provides ongoing support to sites during roll-out and has an active helpdesk, according to a spokesperson. Feedback on the project has been “positive”.

HSE and HSE-funded services have relied on a paper-based reporting system or secondary software to capture incident data before manually inputting this data onto the NIMS. ePOE reporting enables frontline staff to enter incidents directly onto the NIMS.

“The significant benefit of the NIMS national platform is that there is the opportunity for wider system learning by having access to national data,” stated the HSE’s spokesperson.

The system allows for extrapolation of real-time data on incidents/near-misses for ePOE sites.

Asked of any challenges with the roll-out, the HSE noted it is dependent on sites providing the capacity to meet agreed timelines and tasks.

There is also a dependency on the State Claims Agency (SCA) to support the required technical changes.

Separately, the HSE confirmed it has sought the development of additional fields on the NIMS to capture the manufacturer and serial number of medical devices involved in an incident. This was described as a “legal requirement” during discussions at the HSE incident management system governance committee last year, according to minutes obtained by this newspaper.

“Since our first request to the SCA in 2021, the two organisations have been working to try to progress this. The HSE is hopeful that this important technical change will be completed and delivered in 2025.”

A SCA spokesperson said the design of this project was complex. They said the Agency was working with the HSE and other stakeholders to implement the necessary requirements.