NHSGGC Quality Strategy “Quality Everyone Everywhere” reinforces our commitment to providing high quality, person-centred care. This includes a person-centred approach to care planning.
Care which focuses on personal goals, preferences and needs results in better outcomes, improved experience and improved safety.
Digital Clinical Notes (DCN)
Digital Clinical Notes (DCN) is an exciting and innovative multi-professional approach to digitalise clinical documentation.
Documentation that is currently used to assess, plan and evaluate patient care will now be available as a digital record. Admission documentation and risk assessments will all link into a new Person-Centred Care Plan. The new Person-Centred Care Plan is based on the NHSGGC Principles of Person-Centred Care Planning. We developed these principles in collaboration with the people who use and work in our services:
- Listen to understand what matters to the individual in the context of their illness or treatment and include their individual preferences and choices.
- Ask who matters and how they wish them to be involved in decision making about their plan of care and provision of care.
- Include the preferred approach, tools and resources to support communication and information needs.
- Set realistic aims and goals which are achievable across the whole episode of care.
- Reflective of a structured multi-professional approach to the plan of care.
What are the benefits?
What are the benefits?
- Secure, quick access to patient care plans, supporting clearer multi-disciplinary communication and improving the overall experience for patients, and the staff caring for them.
- Improved personalisation of care, with individual care plans based on each person’s values, needs, and preferences.
- Documentation that reflects what matters most to people receiving care.
- Individual patient goals and the planned actions to achieve them are clearly understood by all staff involved in their care.
- All staff involved in people’s care have the same up‑to‑date information at all times.
- Consistent, high‑quality care planning, which is supported by the structured use of the APIE (Assess, Plan, Implement, Evaluate) nursing model and aligned with NHSGGC’s Person‑Centred Care Planning Principles within DCN.
Will my care plan be digital or paper?
Will my care plan be digital or paper?
If you come into an adult acute ward in one of the hospitals listed below, we’ll create your care plan digitally:
- Institute of Neurological Sciences in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital
- Gartnavel General Hospital
- Lightburn Hospital
- New Victoria Hospital
- Stobhill ACH
- Glasgow Royal Infirmary
- Vale of Leven Hospital
- Royal Alexandra Hospital (The team aims to complete the Royal Alexandra Hospital by March 2026)
Progress and next steps:
Progress and next steps:
We continually evaluate the impact DCN and the new Person‑Centred Care Plan (PCCP) has in practice by gathering feedback from patients, families and staff. We identify strengths and areas for improvement by reviewing how care plans are completed.
Each stage of the rollout across NHSGGC provides an opportunity to learn, adjust and strengthen the approach before moving on to the next area. In 2025, we completed evaluations across five NHSGGC sites, with further evaluations planned for 2026.
Throughout 2026, we will continue to roll out DCN and the PCCP across the remaining areas of the Royal Alexandra Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
This continuous evaluation and improvement cycle ensures that learning from each site informs the next phase of implementation, supporting consistent, high‑quality and person‑centred care across NHSGGC.