NHS Tasked With £2.3 Billion Cost-cutting Mission

Debbie Williams

Blog, Tuesday 28th April 2009

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The Department of Health’s revenue budget for 2010/2011 has been reduced by £2.3bn as part of a £5bn efficiency plan across the public sector. As part of the new Budget, the chancellor has announced that the department’s revenue budget for 2010/11 will be adjusted from £104.6bn to £102.3bn.

According to Health Secretary Alan Johnson: “Better quality, safe health care goes hand in hand with better value for money. Getting it right first time for patients means better care, but also better value for money as it avoids costly follow-ups to put mistakes right.”

For example, the government has pointed to its drive to reduce healthcare-associated infections, which has saved the NHS £75m in the last year.

Is this efficiency plan simply cost-cutting by another name? Or is the government right in these leaner times to look towards doing more with less, and cutting out the fat without cutting out the corners?

Key to the success of any planned efficiency drive must be a commitment to getting Trust finances firmly under control. Senior clinicians need access to better quality data, in order to be able to deliver care within budget, and to ensure more business-like efficiency in how things are run.

Business intelligence can help achieve this, to ensure care is delivered within cost, and helping the NHS to watch the pennies and do more with less, now that spending has been reined back and thrift is very much the word of the day.

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NHS Waiting Lists Reach Record Low

Debbie Williams

Blog, Friday 3rd April 2009

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Nicola Sturgeon, the Health Secretary has hailed the NHS for meeting national targets and getting waiting times down to an all time low. She also commends the NHS for making progress towards future goals.

As it now stands, 94.4% of patients currently wait less than eight weeks for a GP referral to their first outpatient appointment. In 1997 waiting times could be up to 18 months.

No one can doubt the improvements made, however there is still work to be done. In some areas the waiting times are as low as seven weeks, and there is nothing stopping other Trusts meeting these targets.

The Mental Health association has also highlighted that many of their services remain outside of the 18-week regulations.

So with this in mind, Trusts cannot relax just yet – they must continue to strive to do all they can to reduce waiting times even further – in all areas. Business intelligence solutions can really make the difference here. For example, a comprehensive reporting solution that brings together data from across multiple sites and specialties gives you both the breadth and the detail that you need to manage mental healthcare across your Trust.

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NPfIT databases get the red light

Debbie Williams

Blog, Friday 27th March 2009

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E Health Insider has reported on the findings of the latest report from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, which claims that a quarter of all government databases, including NHS Detailed Care Records Service and NHS CRS Secondary Uses Service, are illegal and should be scrapped or redesigned. Serious concerns are also raised about the NHS Summary Care Record Service, and its potential for abuse.

The damning report claims that Britain is now the most invasive surveillance state and the worst at protecting privacy of any western democracy. It says “red light” projects such as NHS CRS and SUS projects are both fundamentally flawed and clearly breach European data protection and rights laws.

It says of detailed care records: “The NHS Detailed Care Record, which will hold GP and hospital records in remote servers controlled by the government, but to which many care providers can add their own comments, wikipedia-style, without proper control or accountability…”

These claims have been strongly rebutted by the Department of Health, with a spokesperson stating: “Neither patient consent nor confidentiality are being overridden. The aim of the National Programme for IT is to provide information to doctors and nurses which will save lives and improve the quality of care. Central to it is patient consent and the right of patients to opt out.”

The debate seems likely to rage on unabated.

Implemented correctly, databases such as the SUS have the potential to give us a level of access to data never before achieved in the NHS, and to transform the way healthcare is delivered.

However, security of patient data must remain the number one priority, and any allegations that patient data could in any situation be compromised must be rigorously and robustly investigated.

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NHS Reviewed

Debbie Williams

Blog, Tuesday 10th March 2009

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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…

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Keeping Mental Health in Order

Debbie Williams

Blog, Friday 6th March 2009

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This week, Britain’s highest-decorated soldier criticised the NHS for its inability to help ex-servicemen with mental health problems. But with the government already feeling the pressure of increased cases of mental health, what can Trusts do to help minimise these issues?

Software like Ardentia’s Mental Health Information solution can really make a difference by providing a highly-focused management tool that enables Trusts to make decisions based on reliable information and not just intuition, making it an essential component to improve the quality of care delivery.

Community activity gives a view of how well services are being dispensed by nurses, therapists, dieticians, etc, monitoring the workload of care teams as well as the individuals in those teams. Review records also provide regular snapshots of patients who have had or are awaiting review, ensuring that cases are being properly monitored and that none accidentally ‘slip under the radar’.

Developed in partnership with other Mental Health Trusts, the solution provides access to data across the Web you can ensure that all your managers, at whatever level, are able to see the reports they need to do their job, whenever they need them. The fact that the data that is used as the basis of the reports is as current and up-to-date as it can be means that all managers are making decisions based on the most reliable possible information.

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Promoting an NHS Blame Culture?

Debbie Williams

Blog, Friday 27th February 2009

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Should NHS managers risk court over clinical errors?

The Health Service Journal has reported on the views of Professor Toft, professor of patient safety at Coventry University and incident investigator, that NHS managers should be legally responsible for some clinical negligence cases.

According to Professor Toft, who has advised the World Health Organisation and the National Patient Safety Agency, where healthcare professionals have told managers about a problem with their care environment, the manager should be liable for incidents related to the problem.

The proposals follow recent criticism of NHS management skills by MPs. And although clinicians are often under intense working pressure, surely fostering a culture of blame is not the answer?

Improving access to clinical data is a critical first step that Trusts need to take, if they are to improve NHS management and ultimately clinical outcomes. Give clinicians access to good quality data and you give them the ability to lead, and to improve service delivery and healthcare outcomes.

A single repository for all clinical data allows healthcare managers and clinicians to access to the information they need to monitor patient progress. This helps to ensure timely access to care as an immediate priority, supporting person-centred care in line with the Darzi recommendations.

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

Debbie Williams

Blog, Friday 20th February 2009

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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.

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From Cotton to Care: Manchester continues to lead the world

Debbie Williams

Blog, Friday 13th February 2009

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As every proud Mancunian will no doubt tell you, since the beginnings of the Industrial revolution, Manchester’s innovative spirit has seen it at the vanguard of free trade, leading the political and economic reform of the 19th century, and founding the first passenger railway and first public library.

More recently, NHS Manchester’s commitment to improving healthcare delivery and patient outcomes has resulted in the deployment of an advanced business intelligence solution to help ensure world-class care for its patients, as reported in E Health Insider.

Our Data Warehouse and Patient Level Costing solutions are being deployed across its commissioning and provisioning functions to reduce risk to clinical and PCT data and enable healthcare managers to make quick and informed decisions, and ensure timely patient progress and access to care.

Paul McQuaid, project manager at NHS Manchester said: “The combination of these solutions will be crucial to the development of the organisation. They will allow our staff to drill down to obtain valuable patient data, rather than spending time processing documents.

“With a population of 500,000 and approximately 1000 GP referrals each week, we need the right tools to help deal effectively with business issues and meet our goals – Ardentia solutions make this possible for us.”

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USA Takes a Welcome Step Towards Universal Healthcare

Debbie Williams

Blog, Friday 6th February 2009

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US President Barack Obama has signed a bill to expand government-funded health insurance to cover an additional four million children, in what can be seen as a key step towards universal healthcare.

According to the BBC, he acted just hours after the House of Representatives backed the $32.8bn (£23bn) expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Programme, as part of his commitment to “ fulfil one of the highest responsibilities that we have, to ensure the health and well-being of our nation’s children.”

The president said that adding four million uninsured children to the State Children’s Health Insurance Programme, which currently insures some seven million children, was an important step towards fulfilling his promise of universal health care in America.

Viewing events from the UK, with the publicly funded NHS providing free healthcare service at the point of care, Obama’s decision is a welcome one, which is to be applauded. Improving access to care services will play a vital role in reducing healthcare inequalities and improving healthcare delivery for future generations.

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NHS Struggling with Waiting Times in Wales

Debbie Williams

Blog, Friday 30th January 2009

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Recent statistics have shown that over 200 people in Wales are still waiting more than 22 weeks for an operation, despite the referral to treatment deadline passing in March 2008 and with the March 2009 14 week deadline approaching, people waiting more than 14 weeks has increased by 7.5%.

It is thought that due to the time of year, hospitals have been under more pressure and have therefore been unable to carry out all planned operations as originally scheduled.

According to the stats, which you can view here, there are currently 6472 people waiting more than 14 weeks for surgery and 42,241 people waiting more than 10 weeks for an outpatient appointment.

Solutions such as Ardentia’s Pathway Manager are able to monitor compliance with both the English 18-week and the Welsh 26-week wait targets, identifying the needs of each individual patient and continuing to monitor these needs through their pathway of care across all areas of the hospital.

Using business intelligence solutions allow Trusts to access accurate, reliable and timely information about patients, resources, financial flows and key performance indicators. This enables managers and clinicians to make informed decisions in order to plan and manage their workloads more effectively and deliver an improved level of service.

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