NHS Trust recognised for use of VR in safeguarding

Earlier this year saw Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust become winners at the Patient Safety Congress Awards 2021, following its work with Antser, a solutions provider for the health, education, and social care sectors.

Rewarding projects that made use of innovative technology to ‘improve the safety of patients and alleviate pressure on the system’, Darent Valley Hospital was selected as the winner of the ‘Effective Use of Technology’ category following a successful project with Antser to pioneer the use of Virtual Reality for their Safeguarding Training.

Run by Health Service Journal Awards, The Patient Safety Congress Poster Competition is an industry leading award that recognises safety and quality improvement initiatives nationally and globally.

Overseen by the Safeguarding Children’s Team, Darent Valley Hospital successfully implemented the innovative VR programme to help deliver effective training to ten of its staff members, including midwives.

Antser VR is one of the first VR-enabled behaviour change programmes designed for children’s and adults’ social care, as well as health and education. Using in-house designed, hard-hitting VR films as case studies, they immerse users into the lives of children and young people who have experienced abuse, offering the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of the child/young individual.

Richard Dooner, chief executive officer at Antser, said: “We are so thrilled that our virtual reality partnership with the NHS Trust saw Darent Valley Hospital become winners at The Patient Safety Congress Poster Competition.

“This partnership with Darent Valley Hospital has been successful for so many reasons but mostly because staff at the hospital are now armed with the knowledge and experience to recognise certain situations, meaning the right referrals to social care can be made, at the right time.”

Following the training, over 10 staff members are now able to deliver the effective VR training programme throughout the organisation. This is mainly aimed at all clinical staff who attend Safeguarding Level 3 training which includes A&E, paediatrics, and maternity.

Darent Valley Hospital is now looking to explore how VR can be used for a stop smoking initiative and to work with other health partners to provide trauma informed training.