UNISON - East of England Ambulance Branch

                                           “I`m not filling in a DATIX”

Hi all,

I want to tell you how important it is to complete the dreaded DATIX.

I`ve heard all the excuses about why staff don’t fill them in, I have made them myself in the past.

• Too time consuming
• HEOC won`t let me come off the run to fill it out
• No computer available
• Last job of the shift

And of course, what’s the point, nothing gets done.

To address these excuses, I don`t think that 10-15 minutes is too long out of your life to protect you, your colleagues or a patient - this is all it takes.

You can now do them by phone 24/7 – the number should be programed into all the Trust phones but if not the number is 08456026856.  Yes it might take the same amount of time but get your mate to go and buy you a coffee, so no excuse.

HEOC won`t stand me down - do it by phone after the job before you book clear.  Just think more coffee!

No computer; yes you guessed it, do it by phone - more coffee, getting the idea?

I`m already late off; yes we all get late jobs but it is your responsibility to protect you and your colleagues.  You don`t have to have more coffee, either book the overtime or do it at the start of your next shift if you are working the next day – you have a 24 hour window.

What’s the point; well there is a point to do it because the Trust has a duty of care to make sure that we are safe from danger but if they don’t know about something they can’t act.  You also have a duty of care so it won`t go down too well if one of your colleagues gets assaulted by someone who did the same to you in the past and you could have prevented it but you couldn`t be bothered - you know  the saying, if it ain`t written down it didn`t happen.

Finally, if you don`t report these things, we as H&S reps (working for you) can`t see any patterns building up and approach the Trust to rectify the problem or get the person or address flagged up. And of course if you are unable to work as the result of an incident (which I hope never happens), you won`t be able to make a claim for the best kept NHS secret, temporary injury benefit, where you might be entitled to 85% of your wages.

Please if you want to know the outcome of the investigation your Datix should have prompted, you must put a contact number or e mail address on the bottom of the form.  I know it might not always be the outcome you want but at least it`s recorded.

Thanks for reading; I’m off for a coffee.