Dr Foster Intelligence | Case studies

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Success stories

The data we are now using has provided us with a massive drive in service improvement.

Kate Pound Service Improvement Manager

Changing behaviours

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust wanted to better understand and influence health service behaviours and attitudes. Understanding the needs of the individual is a large part of the work and involves increased teamwork between general practitioners, clinicians, managers and public health professionals.

Solution:

By using Practice and Provider Monitor (PPM), the hospital now has access to a level of detail in their data that they never had before.

"The data we are now using has provided us with a massive drive in service improvement," said Kate Pound, service improvement manager. "People are no longer working in isolation. They see themselves as a part of the whole patient flow. I think it has empowered and enlightened staff who are now recognising and saying ‘you need to improve your length of stay’, ‘you need to improve the way you’re working’, etc. For me, that has really been very powerful.

"I use [Practice and Provider Monitor] all the time," she continued. "There virtually isn’t a day or a week that goes by without me using it. It’s quite an empowering tool to have when faced with challenging questions from directorates. It means I can always compare us with other trusts when I need to prove a point."

Comparing their work with peers is an essential method used by Pound and her team to monitor the equality of care and access. By better understanding what groups in the community are using their services and in what way, the hospital can allocate resources more effectively.

Outcome:

"I use the tool to see how many beds I should apportion for specialties per directorate. I use the data as a driver to push improvements on areas like length of stay and day case work. This is influenced by the information our front-line staff are bringing in.

"We’ve done massive work on reducing length of stay in areas such as hips, knees and cardiac pathway. Just at the moment, I am looking at reconfiguration of the beds, and length of stay is the driving force of it. When you realise there are an awful lot of people coming in as inpatients that actually should be day case procedures – that is what pushes service redesign."

Tool or service

Practice and Provider Monitor.