SystmOne internal messaging system
Published: 07/01/2022
Tags: SystmOne
This blog looks at the use and misuse of the messaging system which is built into SystmOne. I am going to highlight three incidents which I am personally aware of although there may I suspect be many more. Staff must be aware not use such systems (or indeed any system) to make inappropriate comments about others including patients and colleagues. Users should be aware that unlike some commercial messaging applications, the messaging in SystmOne is not private, and that messages are stored in the system, and can be viewed by a local administrator.
The first incident I was personally involved with was some years back when I investigated a series of inappropriate comments made on the messaging system between staff in a clinical team working in a primary care building in Grimsby. In this case staff were working in a large open plan area and when others entered and left the room a group of staff would make very personal comments. This included managers and supervisory staff as well as occasional visitors from other departments. All the six staff identified as being involved were given formal warnings through the organisations disciplinary process.
A few years ago one of our Clinical Application Support Officers was running a training session on SystmOne in a classroom based facility. He became aware that some of the attendees were laughing between themselves, including some at the back of the room and some at the front. He suspected they were using the SystmOne messaging system which was set up to operate as a unit within the classroom, and when he checked using his administrator account he could see there were a number of very discriminatory and unacceptable messages posted relating to his personal appearance. Although he let it pass there would have been certainly grounds to raise it as a significant issue.
Finally this case which was published by the GMC highlights a doctor who was given a Warning for misuse of the system in what he himself described as “inappropriate and unprofessional conduct”. The GMC committee hearing the case stated: “The Committee accepts even if you may have perceived your messages to be ‘ private’, the language used was so unacceptable, it should have not been used in any context during your clinical duties whether private verbal conversation or otherwise”.