The recent investigation by The Guardian newspaper into death rates from vascular surgery revealed a huge variation in death rates among patients admitted for planned operations.
The Guardian’s report shows how comparing identical areas of activity between hospitals can reveal critical information. Only detailed information on specific hospital procedures can reveal areas where more effective care can be delivered to patients, or savings made. Collecting and analysing accurate patient-level data on outcomes will be key to improving care and efficiency in hospital trusts.
By gathering more data on treatments and outcomes at an identifiable patient level, it’s possible to uncover the exact reasons for the differences in mortality rates. These may include factors beyond the hospital’s control, such as the presence of other underlying conditions or the typical age of patients treated. So accurate, patient-level information and costings is crucial to revealing these factors and showing where treatment can be improved, and efficiencies gained in individual hospitals.
As the leading supplier of business intelligence tools to the NHS, Ardentia has developed a Patient Level Costing solution that is already in use in a number of NHS trusts. The solution enables trusts to accurately measure their performance at individual patient level, including all contributing factors to treatment costs from the number of minutes in theatre to the total amount of bed days and nursing hours required. This identifies the reasons for any excursions from averages and NHS tariffs, helping to improve efficiency and ensure that patients receive the highest quality of care.
