As the evenings are lighter and the weather milder, the NHS is still feeling the impact of one of the most-challenging winters it has ever experienced.
Between October and December 2016, 200,000 more patients attended A&E units than in 2015 – a total of 5.34 million patients – and there was a 3.5% increase in patients requiring major further in-hospital treatment, according to NHS Improvement (NHSI).
We can’t expect to run NHS finances on wafer-thin margins year after year and keep getting away with it
There was also a 28% rise in lost bed days, in which patients cannot be discharged as there is no sufficient community or social care when they come out of hospital.
Collectively, these pressures place a huge burden on NHS funding.
Forecasting weather is a challenge even for the mos- experienced forecaster as we well know, but these conditions show how important it is to have the capacity to build in flex and margins to planning cycles – a luxury the NHS just doesn’t have.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Healthcare Providers, was quoted in the Guardian as saying: “Despite doing everything they possibly can, NHS trusts are £300m behind the target of reducing the provider-sector deficit to £580m by the end of March.
“Trusts spent more than they planned and they lost income from cancelled operations – both were needed to create the extra bed capacity to meet record emergency winter demand.
“This shows the danger of planning with no margin for unexpected extra demand.
There is no doubt that technology has a key part to play in streamlining solutions, improving communication, and driving efficiencies
“We can’t expect to run NHS finances on wafer-thin margins year after year and keep getting away with it.”
Earlier in the season, on the Andrew Marr Show he had issued stark warnings, outlining that maintaining high-quality standards in the NHS on the funding available is an insurmountable task.
“The NHS is under the greatest pressure in a generation,” he said.
“It cannot provide the right quality of care and meet the performance standards on the money that’s available, and something has to give.”
Clearly there is no quick solution, and different healthcare professionals, ministers, academics and advisors have different recommendations and advice.
There is no doubt, however, that technology has a key part to play in streamlining solutions, improving communication, and driving efficiencies.
Technology isn’t the magic wand, or perhaps more appropriately, a sticking plaster for a short-term solution, but using digital technologies to better manage the physical environment is already having a major impact on service delivery for healthcare providers.
The NHS’s digital transformation programme is changing the way UK healthcare is delivered.
From online appointment booking, to text reminders, and from emailing X-rays between hospitals, to online test results; the impact of digital technology on the NHS is generating unprecedented, revolutionary change
From online appointment booking, to text reminders, and from emailing X-rays between hospitals, to online test results; the impact of digital technology on the NHS is generating unprecedented, revolutionary change.
An integrated digital NHS will reduce pressure on already-stretched services. It will provide patients with fast, effective, universal healthcare and staff with improved interoperability, with interconnected processes and systems, accuracy and precision, and greater efficiencies.
Progress of this digitalisation has been strong to date: 98.7% of the UK’s GP practices now offer patients online appointment booking, repeat prescriptions, and access to their records.
NHS Choices, with videos, information and downloadable tools, has more than 50 million visits each month. And the MyNHS, a platform for reviewing the effectiveness of local services, has boosted transparency of services.
One visible area in which the shift from a physical to a digital NHS will drive efficiencies is with ‘Did Not Attends’ or DNAs.
Over 12 million GP appointments are missed each year in the UK, which costs more than £162m a year. In addition to this, 6.9 million outpatient appointments are missed, costing an average of £108 per appointment and delaying treatment for other patients.
These no-shows are for a variety of reasons: patients may turn up at a site, but cannot find the exact location of their appointment, perhaps on a sprawling hospital site; they may receive information on their appointment at short notice; they may be unable to park, or have no knowledge of costs; or they may not be well enough health to remember an appointment, or make their way there.
Digital technology has the potential to make a significant, positive impact here, improving patient care and minimising administrative costs.
High-performance scanners capture data and ensure it is managed securely, using it to provide precise, accurate and timely communications. This transformation of physical communications to digital communications enables healthcare organisations to reduce DNAs by:
- Enabling SMS appointment reminders
- Sending information on appointments in digital format
- Including precise, accurate appointment detail
- Incorporating location data such as maps of the particular department on a site, and car parking information
Digitalisation also helps drive a more-agile NHS for staff, as highlighted in the Next Steps on the NHS Five Year Forward View document, released in March.
Agile working, for the NHS can reduce unnecessary estate overheads, increase productivity and motivate staff, but poses challenges with the distribution of physical communications between thousands of multiple addresses.
Protecting diverse assets, maintaining an accurate inventory and minimising lost, misplaced or stolen items, has the potential to generate significant savings and improve healthcare
Converting physical communications to digital communications – scanning incoming post and distributing it electronically, for example – addresses this, while ensuring the secure distribution of information.
As well as incoming post, there are other physical assets within the NHS which need protecting, and digitalisation is driving change here, too.
The NHS spends around £4.6billion on equipment and consumables. Reports reveal stolen items include autopsy tables, defibrillators, laptops and lead from hospital rooftops.
Protecting these diverse assets, maintaining an accurate inventory and minimising lost, misplaced or stolen items, has the potential to generate significant savings and improve healthcare.
Digitalisation is helping protect these assets, minimising risk, refining processes, and creating operational excellence as healthcare providers move from paper-based receipt and delivery notes to integrated, advanced software platforms.
Seasonal extremes, an ageing population, pressure on healthcare professionals, tighter regulations, and a continuing need to reduce costs are just a few of the burdens the service must shoulder. And digitalisation has an important part to play in reducing this
Items are digitally scanned as they come into their location, identification data is generated, and the items are tracked, in real-time, throughout their journey. As a result, management has greater transparency of items, equipment is more secure, and, ultimately, patients experience an improved health service.
The NHS, its infrastructure, and its staff are under greater pressure than ever before.
Seasonal extremes, an ageing population, pressure on healthcare professionals, tighter regulations, and a continuing need to reduce costs are just a few of the burdens the service must shoulder. And digitalisation has an important part to play in reducing this pressure.
