The Adult inpatient tool (AIT) is part of the suite of tools available to help NHS Scotland services plan the number of staff they need.
The tool
The AIT is for use in adult inpatient wards where the number of occupied beds is 17 or more.
Please note: If the occupied beds are usually 16 or less you should use the Small Wards workload tool.
The AIT allows users to record data on bed occupancy and patient dependency.
The calculations within the AIT are specialty specific. The AIT can be used in mixed specialty ward areas. It is, however, recommended that no more than two specialties are used to derive recommended Whole Time Equivalent (rWTE).
Your SSTS Manager can support you to access the most relevant specialty sub-tabs for your area from the list below. Where you have mixed wards you should choose the specialty sub-tab that reflects the majority of beds in that area.
There are currently specialty sub-tabs for:
- AAU
- Cardiology
- Elderly
- Elderly medicine
- Gynaecology
- Hospice
- Infectious disease
- Medical
- Medical gastro
- Medical vascular
- Neurology
- Oncology
- Haematology
- Ortho
- Elective ortho
- Trauma
- Rehab
- Respiratory
- Stroke
- Surgery
- Surgical/vascular
The tool provides weekly nursing rWTE. The set up on SSTS allows rosters to change number of days and hours to reflect when the service is open.
This means the rWTE obtained would be for that specific local combination of hours and days.
How to use this tool
Use this tool alongside the professional judgement (PJ) tool.
The current national recommendation is to run the tools for a two-week period, at least once per year.
Use the data capture template from the table below to record information. This data can then be uploaded onto the SSTS platform.
Use the outputs from the tools, as part of the Common Staffing Method (CSM), to inform safe and effective staffing for your service.
The following video guides and documents provide information on completing the AIT. They provide detailed information from how to log in to how to gather and submit data.
| Resource | Source | What it is and what it’s for |
|---|---|---|
| Resource | Source Healthcare Improvement Scotland | What it is and what it’s for Step by step guide to background of AIT and data collection |
| Resource | Source Healthcare Improvement Scotland | What it is and what it’s for Step by step guide to uploading data onto SSTS platform |
| Resource AIT user guide (PDF, 2006K) | Source Healthcare Improvement Scotland | What it is and what it’s for User guide on using the AIT tool |
| Resource AIT data capture template (PDF, 591K) | Source Healthcare Improvement Scotland | What it is and what it’s for Printable data capture template |
| Resource | Source TURAS | What it is and what it’s for A variety of learning resources to support understanding workload and workforce planning and the application of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 |
| Resource | Source Healthcare Improvement Scotland | What it is and what it’s for Printable checklist to aid tool run preparation and delivery |
| Resource | Source NHS Lanarkshire | What it is and what it’s for Example of reporting template which looks at each component of the CSM |