A real-time analytics solution which was created in December 2018 at the Trust’s Royal Lancaster Infirmary site is helping staff to improve patient management, care and experience.
The Analytic Command Centre was designed to work in a similar way to airport air traffic control and displays live information about patients throughout their hospital stay, from incoming patients travelling via ambulance to patients waiting for discharge home.
Improvements so far include:
- The number of patients triaged with the Trust’s Emergency Department within 15 minutes of arrival has risen from 70% in 2018 to 94% for April- June 2019
- The number of nights where a medical patient has been cared for on a non-medical ward due to bed pressure (medical outliers) has decreased by over 1,800 bed-days or 47% between April – June 2018 and April – June 2019.
University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) holds patient flow meetings every two hours in the Analytic Command Centre which helps teams to better analyse the emergency care setting and patient flow in and out of the hospital.
The new screens show live information including:
- Which patients are due for discharge and themes of why there may be delays
- The performance in the Emergency Departments (ED) which allows staff to see the status of ambulances, the number of walk-ins and if there has been a surge in patients
- The number of admissions to hospital through outpatient appointments and departments such as the Ambulatory Care Unit
- The current bed state across the Trust which helps teams to manage the demand for beds across the hospital and ease the number of patients in ED.
Rob O’Neill, Head of Information, UHMBT, added: “Advanced analytics is helping us to deliver the highest standard of patient care as efficiently as possible in this area. By immersing our colleagues in real-time data it gives them the opportunity to pre-empt and react quickly to changing demand.”
‘Foluke Ajayi, Chief Operating Officer, UHMBT, said: “We have seen some fantastic results since the Analytic Command Centre was implemented which is helping our teams to plan ahead with the resources they have to give the very best care to our patients.”