Business intelligence tools deployed to help leading Mental Health Trust to further improve healthcare provision

North East London NHS Foundation Trust has chosen to deploy healthcare intelligence and reporting tools from leading specialist Ardentia, to optimise financial management and improve patient care.

The Trust has ordered the Ardentia ‘Cassius’ web reporting tool, enabling clinicians and managers to access business intelligence over the Intranet. Greater access to clinical data will ensure more effective management, giving clinicians the ability to make informed decisions and to further improve healthcare provision, based on the needs of patients and groups of patients.

Ardentia’s Service Line Management solution will also be deployed, providing the Trust with accurate information on resources used, quality of care and financial performance. This will support overall Trust management, ensuring resources are being used effectively and that strategic goals are being met.

North East London NHS Foundation Trust provides NHS mental health services in the London boroughs of Barking & Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge and Waltham Forest, serving a population of almost one million.

The Trust has established a reputation as one of the leading Mental Health Trusts in the country. It is one of only twelve Trusts of any kind in London to have won a rating of ‘Excellent’ from the Healthcare Commission in 2008. It is also playing a pioneering role in the development of Clusters, to classify patient pathways into groups for which tariffs could later be calculated.

“By setting out in this way to put strategic information in the hands of clinicians as well as operational managers and senior management, North East London is once again positioning itself at the forefront of moves to build a new National Health Service for the 21st century,” said Tom Mulhern, sales and marketing director at Ardentia. “The Trust joins a group of eight that are pioneering the use of business intelligence in mental healthcare, including East London and the City in London, Surrey and the Borders and Bedfordshire and Luton in the Home Counties, Birmingham and Solihull in the Midlands and Pennine Healthcare in the North.

“North East London will benefit from the great successes these Trusts have achieved with our business intelligence solutions, but the Trust will be blazing a new trail in exploring the use of financial data, and in the approach they are taking to rolling out business intelligence across the whole of the Trust.”