Department of Health Looks to Help Doctors Engage with Patients

Debbie Williams

Blog, Tuesday 13th April 2010

Add Your Comment

EHealth Insider has reported on a new system launched by the Department of Health to encourage doctors to engage more with patients to find out more about what their views are on subjects such as treatment, experience and information available.

The new system, entitled the Invest in Engagement tool, analyses almost 300 research reviews and it is hoped that this will allow doctors to see what areas are working and where improvements need to be made.

This programme is an encouraging use of the online facilities available to the NHS, with it offering patients the opportunity to feedback to doctors their opinions on services. If the National Programme for IT is to succeed then such initiatives as this are required to help outline the importance of IT within healthcare.

Such a service highlights the importance of keeping patients at the centre of the NHS and not getting too distracted by efficiency savings and government targets, especially in the run up to the election.

Tagged: , , , , ,

Healthcare Expert Claims NHS Budget Cuts Need Not Impact Upon Quality

Debbie Williams

Blog, Monday 15th February 2010

Add Your Comment

Highlighting the thoughts of health service analyst and management consultant Dr Penny Dash, The Financial Times has reported how the required £15 billion to £20 billion efficiency savings in the NHS need not result in the quality of care suffering.

The main ideas proposed by Dr Dash relate to limiting treatments and operations that offer no real benefits to patients; reconsidering the location of care provision; reducing the amount of paper work for district nurses; and for patients to register some of their medical information online before appointments.

All of these suggestions offer potentially significant boosts to efficiency within the NHS, but for this to be successful, what is required is a structured and manageable implementation process.

For the NHS to restrict unnecessary treatments, it is essential that financial departments have access to detailed information of exactly how much each procedure or course of treatment costs to see how this compares to the funding provided.

Business intelligence allows financial managers to use patient level costing to calculate the cost of treatment for either individual patients or groups of patients to measure cost effectiveness. By being able to work out the precise cost of any treatment, clinicians and consultants can work together with financial managers to deliberate whether the treatment offers enough benefit to the patient to justify the cost.

Without a method of recording and managing such financial data, it is difficult to measure improvements in efficiency. Use of a business intelligence system allows NHS trusts to provide evidence of exactly what the cost savings are for any changes to procedures, helping increase efficiency and achieve the proposed budget cuts.

Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Care Quality Commission’s Report Reveals Need for More Coordinated Approach to Care

Debbie Williams

Blog, Thursday 11th February 2010

Add Your Comment

The Care Quality Commission – the independent regulator of health and social care in England – has published its first report into the state of health care and adult social care, which reveals the need for better communication both across and within sectors of care.

The Care Quality Commission report found that nine out of ten people receiving social care were also using secondary health care services, but that the transition between services was not as smooth as it could be. These findings were also mirrored solely within the healthcare sector, with the CQC calling for improved communication channels between hospitals and general practices.

This is where IT holds the key.

Ardentia’s Pathway Manager software has been designed to make sure that every patient’s care is closely monitored, so that the right treatment is administered as quickly as possible, with all clinicians and consultants provided with a full patient history outline.

This approach not only allows patients to enjoy a more ‘person-centred’ experience of care, but also improves efficiency levels for staff across the health care sector, increasing the level of service offered to all patients.

While the report also reveals an improvement in the quality of care, if we are to reach and maintain consistently high standards, it is essential that all departments and institutions within the health care sector work alongside developments in business intelligence to achieve the best overall level of patient care.

Tagged: , , ,

Sweden Follows the UK Example With its Own National Programme for IT

Debbie Williams

Blog, Tuesday 18th August 2009

Add Your Comment

It was encouraging to read news in Public Service magazine about Sweden’s progress in delivering its own version of the UK’s National Programme for IT – the National Patient Summary (NPÖ) – which will help Sweden’s health service improve healthcare whilst maintaining patient privacy and data security.

I say encouraging, because Sweden – like its Scandinavian neighbours – has an enviable record for its public services and state welfare, from health and social care through to education.  So for them to be looking to the UK for inspiration on how to better manage healthcare delivery, the NHS must be getting things right.

The goal to digitalise healthcare in Sweden will involve linking up 21 county councils, 290 municipalities and 6,000 private care providers to the NPÖ, a system that will improve diagnosis, treatment and follow-up, and ensure patients have greater access and control over their medical records, and security controls that will ensure peace of mind.

The healthcare challenges faced in Sweden are the same that we face here in the UK, amongst them that of an ageing population.  With an increasingly mobile population, an interoperable records system is vital to ensuring vital information flow between different care providers.

The effective flow of patient and clinical data is crucial in ensuring timely and joined-up care provision. Care providers at every stage, from the primary care setting through to acute, A&E and mental healthcare provision need accessible patient data, in order to delivery the high quality care we expect.

As other countries begin to follow the UK’s lead in developing national healthcare IT infrastructures, we should take the opportunity to look and learn from the progress and success they are witnessing, in order to continue to improve upon our own national system.  Closer collaboration and sharing of ideas can only lead to improved systems and improved outcomes, which has to be a good thing.

Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Darzi's Departure

Debbie Williams

Blog, Tuesday 21st July 2009

Add Your Comment

Top surgeon Lord Darzi has resigned as health minister to devote more time to his clinical role and academic research, although he will continue to advise on health reforms in both the NHS and global public health, as well as taking on the new role of health and life sciences ambassador.

Last year Darzi published his review setting out plans for the next 10 years of the NHS in England. He has undoubtedly been crucial in driving forward NHS plans to improve quality of care and deliver better value for money.

He also deserves praise for his role in shifting the focus of health reforms to where they should be — which is on providing high quality care as a priority.  In the wake of Darzi’s departure, it will be vital that NHS decision makers continue to focus on quality and safety.

Over the last 10 years, we have seen a level of access to care never before witnessed in the NHS.  It is important that this commitment to improving the patient experience and quality of outcomes continues.

Healthcare business intelligence solutions have played a pivotal role in enabling trusts to realise these dramatic improvements in care delivery, giving them improved visibility of patient pathways, and allowing them to make informed and timely clinical decisions.

Tagged: , , , , , , ,

NHS Sltaff to Give Input on Innovation

Debbie Williams

Blog, Wednesday 13th May 2009

Add Your Comment

The NHS is to release a new survey for staff, which offers them the ability to give their input on innovation within healthcare, and to provide feedback on what they believe are the biggest opportunities to use innovation to improve patient care.

The results of this survey could potentially be very interesting – getting clinical staff involved in innovation is key to transforming healthcare delivery and will offer a valuable insight from the frontline into how new processes are actually working within the health service and how they are being received by staff.

It will prove particularly interesting to see how new information services are being received – giving clinical staff timely access to the information they need to do their job and the ability to drill down and interrogate data to make informed healthcare decisions will undoubtedly help to dramatically improve outcomes – but it’s important to get the buy-in of those using these systems on the ground every day.

Tagged: , , ,

Pennine Care: The Backbone of Britain’s Mental Healthcare

Debbie Williams

Blog, Friday 8th May 2009

Add Your Comment

It’s exciting and invigorating to be involved with truly innovative and forward-looking trusts such as Pennine Care, who are committed to harnessing technology as a force for good, and to breaking new ground in healthcare delivery.

The NHS Foundation Trust is currently working towards a more powerful and comprehensive information and reporting system for mental health, to better meet the unique set of challenges being faced by mental health trusts, to improve management, boost outcomes, and meet the requirements of the Darzi review.

Pennine Care is one of only four trusts nationally to be involved in defining the basis for extending Payment by Results into the Mental Health area – a level of control of financial performance which will become increasingly critical given the current economic climate and the reduced budget allocations for trusts and healthcare as a whole. Trusts will need to ensure good housekeeping, and to do more with less, optimising efficiency and making best use of available resources, whilst continuing to strive for improved patient care.

Ardentia’s Mental Health Information solution helps trusts to achieve improved management and financial control. It brings together data from multiple sources, including referrals, community activity, inpatient and outpatient activity, review records and caseload data, in order to supply mental health trust managers with the information they need to make informed clinical and management decisions.

With such an innovative outlook, it’s hardly surprising that the Trust has been rated as excellent for the quality of its services by the Healthcare Commission for two years in succession. It can be rightly proud of its title of backbone of Britain.

Tagged: , , , , , , ,

BT Heads South

Debbie Williams

Blog, Tuesday 14th April 2009

Add Your Comment

Like a phoenix from the flames, BT has emerged as the new local service provider in the south of England, bringing some degree of direction for hospitals and trusts in the region in the wake of Fujitsu’s departure from NPfIT last year.

BT is to take over responsibility for supporting eight NHS hospitals in the south of England running Cerner Millennium software, and it is thought the outline of a framework deal will next week be announced for the 30-plus NHS hospital trusts in the south of England, still waiting for a new IT system five years after the start of the NHS IT programme.

The price tag for BT’s contract extension is rumoured to be in excess of £100m, according to sources of E Health Insider.

Some will welcome the news, seeing at as evidence that NPfIT as a truly national programme is firmly back on track. Others see this latest contract renegotiation and not inconsiderable price tag as further confirmation of spiralling costs, of throwing good money after bad, and some might say of repositioning deckchairs on a project that is doomed to sink.

Whether you’re optimistic about NPfIT or firmly with the pessimists, this latest news again raises the question of whether a truly national programme is desirable, let alone realisable. Many people favour a more localised approach, with hospitals and trusts free to choose the systems that best meet their requirements, and the flexibility that this inherently gives them.

Tagged: , , , , , ,

NHS Reviewed

Debbie Williams

Blog, Tuesday 10th March 2009

Add Your Comment

A new paper released today by Gordon Brown – being described as an ‘information revolution’ – has announced that, similar to TripAdvisor, Amazon and eBay, patients will now be able to leave online reviews of their local services to give the public more influence over the health service.

By the Summer, patients will be able to leave comments on individual doctors and their experience of the system on the NHS Choices website, in a hope that the general public will be able to shape the services that they receive.

Brown has said: “People take it for granted that they will access other people’s reviews and ratings before buying something on eBay or Amazon, and yet we do not yet have systematic access to other people’s experiences when choosing a GP practice or nursery.”

“We have clearly got the balance wrong when online businesses have higher standards of transparency than they public services we pay for and support.”

This certainly is an interesting concept and it will be interesting to see how the comments that are posted on the site reflect the individual Trusts and the services they deliver. From our perspective, feedback on how patients feel about their pathway of care and waiting times in specific areas will be particularly interesting. But we will have to wait until the summer to find out what the nation thinks of healthcare provision…

Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

NPfIT… Revolution in Healthcare or Expensive Failure: America Takes Stock

Debbie Williams

Blog, Friday 20th February 2009

Add Your Comment

Onlookers and interested parties from around the world have long been following the progress of the UK’s landmark National Programme for IT. More recently, American doctor and researcher Dr Richard Cook has developed a short analysis of NPfIT and the implications for the US government’s investment in clinical healthcare IT, accessible here.

Apparently, the much-publicised delays and failings are giving US observers nightmares, with patient safety, suitability of technology and value for money key concerns, concerns shared by many onlookers and indeed MPs in the UK.

Such concerns are a far cry from the praiseworthy goals of the programme, to connect GPs and hospitals to ensure NHS staff have access to the patient data they need to make timely and informed clinical decisions, and improving the quality of care delivered.

Those in favour argue the new IT systems are delivering better, safer and faster care, that costs are being controlled, and that NPfIT will play a key role in helping to deliver truly world-class care.

With the USA making committed steps towards following the UK in offering universal healthcare, the lessons being learnt here will no doubt prove invaluable to US policy makers, in helping them to shape healthcare for future generations and to reduce the healthcare inequalities that exist.

Tagged: , , , ,

Page 1 of 212