Strengthening surgical handover: Developing and evaluating the effectiveness of a handover tool to improve patient safety.

The European Working Time Directive and economic challenges have led to a paradigm of shift-work becoming common, and yet the continuation of high-quality patient care remains paramount. Effective and safe transfer of clinical information is critical as emphasised by the Royal College of Surgeons document 'Safe handover: Guidance from the Working Time Directive working party (March 2007)'. The aim of this project was to design and implement a handover proforma in order to deliver a more efficient and safer system for patient care over the weekend.