1. How to use the NHS Safety Thermometer Functions of the tool How to input your data How to get the most out of it

2. You need to save the Safety Thermometer before you can open it Your macro settings should be set to medium security. When you open the Safety Thermometer you will be asked to ‘enable macros’

3. Each tab on the Safety Thermometer can be printed General guidance Click on the different tabs to use the different functions and input your data

4. You can also print out the definitions for ease of reference The Definitions tab has the operational definitions for each of the harms and questions in the survey tab

5. Click new to create a new blank Safety Thermometer The export function allows you to export your data in to an excel database The merging function allows you to merge different Safety Thermometers together

6. Click on new to start a new Survey ‘Find’ Allows you to find surveys that you have completed previously Definitions can also be seen by hovering over the red mark

7. Clicking New will bring up the following drop- down menu asking you to input your organisation name

8. Fill in each of the fields for your patients. Fields will be created once the age and sex is completed Fill in the remaining details according to your Ward/organisation and then click Save

9. Once the data has been inputted. Click the Save Icon to Save the data You may also click the Delete button to remove the data you have inputted if it is incorrect After saving the survey, click ‘New’ to input another survey

10. T o see if your data has saved, Click on the Find button to bring up the list of data that has been inputted

11. Click one of the buttons on the left to create a chart There is guidance on how to use the charts to filter your data

12. Click here to copy or print Click here to swap between percentages and numbers of patients

13. In Excel 2007 Click here to break the data down by ward Click here to copy or print Click here to edit the charts

14. Right click over the ward name and choose ‘sort and filter’ to look at one ward’s data In Excel 2007

15. Right click anywhere on the chart and choose ‘change chart type’ to change the chart to a bar chart In Excel 2007

16. Click here to edit the charts Click here to break the data down by ward In Excel 2003 Click here to change the chart to a bar chart

17. Click here and choose on ward to to look at one ward’s data In Excel 2003