Data Collection System

The Perinatal Institute is a research and audit organisation based in the West Midlands which has developed an innovative data collection system, deployed in a number of Neonatal Units in NHS hospitals around the West Midlands and Trent regions.

The Institute wanted to ensure that the risks associated with this new development were identified and minimised. Blueberry was commissioned to review the ongoing development and to examine the current concerns.

Blueberry prepared a summary of proposals and recommendations to address the following concerns:

• Project timescales and scope – the Perinatal Institute wanted to run a pilot within 4 months of starting the project.
• End-user reporting – data collected by this system was to be analysed and used by a separate team, so it needed to be accurate and easily accessible.
• Technology risks – the existing software architecture used some in-house software, which could potentially be simplified or replaced by later versions of Microsoft’s .NET library.
• Team dynamics and interaction.

One of the key requirements for the system was that the data collected should be easily available for analysis. To achieve this, Blueberry identified how the existing gap between non-technical and technical personnel could be closed, and how the required reports could be produced quickly.