Arden & GEM CSU upgrades national data portal for specialised services
Move helps commissioners tackle unwarranted variation
Business intelligence specialists at NHS Arden & GEM Commissioning Support Unit (CSU) have released a new suite of intelligent dashboards as part of a national data portal for specialised services, supporting healthcare commissioners in identifying and tackling unwarranted variation.
Accurate data and intelligent analytics are critical to the delivery of a sustainable NHS, particularly in identifying variation and establishing improvement initiatives.
In order to make fully-informed plans, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs) need to have a thorough understanding of the needs of their population and a system-wide view of activity.
Arden & GEM CSU has developed a web-based portal on behalf of NHS England to enable collaborative commissioning of specialised services.
The National Commissioning Data Repository (NCDR) uses a variety of information sources in relation to specialised service commissioned activities in order to provide users with a comprehensive understanding of the needs of their population.
With over 30 dashboards and reports available, the NCDR has already been in use for 12 months and has informed a range of transformation programmes including cardiology and place-based commissioning.
The updated portal now features six new areas of analysis including QIPP opportunities, pathway cost analysis, and unwarranted variation by both service line and programme of care.
Ayub Bhayat, associate director of business intelligence at NHS Arden & GEM CSU, said: “We have worked in partnership with national, regional and local commissioners to identify and develop additional portal functionality to enable holistic planning and decision making.
“With a growing user base and evolving reporting the NCDR is uniquely placed to meet the needs of collaborative commissioning.
“Analytics can be configured at a local, STP or national level to enable a comprehensive view of specialised services activity.
“Our team of experts is looking forward to working with both new and existing users to support transformation programmes which reduce variation, improve patient experience and maximise value for money.”
Arden & GEM currently provides business intelligence services and data management support to over 70 CCGs.