NHS England has claimed a productivity gain in hospitals since the introduction of its Federated Data Platform (FDP) at this time last year.
It said that hospital trusts using the FDP – which securely brings together data currently held in separate systems - have each treated on average 114 more inpatients in theatres every month since introducing the tool.
87 NHS acute hospital trusts and 28 integrated care boards in England have signed up so far.
South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, one of the pilot sites, reported a 37% reduction in the number of days patients remained in hospital after they were ready to go home. Long stay patients spent an average of five days less in hospital after they were ready to leave, freeing up beds for other patients.
The trust’s divisional director of community ser vices, Anna Hargrave, said: “This tool has enabled us to make better use of data to drive operational changes that have led to improvements in performance.
“This is hugely positive for our staff, who are enjoying better ways of working, and for our patients, who are able to safely leave hospital faster than they were a year and a half ago.”
Speeding up care
Ming Tang, chief data and analytics officer at NHS England, said: “The NHS Federated Data Platform boosts efficiency and speeds up care and I’m delighted that over 100 NHS organisations have already signed up to use the service in its first year.
“Its many benefits include the ability to identify those on waiting lists for longest, highlighting issues that could lead to on the day cancellations of procedures, showing when operating theatres are lying empty and speeding up discharges so patients get home faster.
“Hospital trusts using the tool are seeing dozens more patients each month and we’re working with NHS organisations to bring these benefits to as many more patients as possible.”
Each hospital trust and local health system has their own version of the platform, which comes with a number of ready to use products.
Additional products now being tested include technology that identifies where patients could be treated faster at a nearby hospital and a new tool that helps to ensure suspected cancer patients are seen, diagnosed and treated sooner.
In August of this year NHS England indicated that it expected all trusts to be using the platform within two years, despite the implementation not being mandatory.
Further developments
Tang also provided an update on the development of the platform, indicating that it will involve the provision of new products over the next year.
She said that pilots have begun on the use of a shared patient tracking list tool, which enables hospitals to share their elective waiting lists to identify opportunities to treat patients sooner. This is intended to support coordination and the better utilisation of resources across NHS England.
Other tools under development are Cancer 360, to ensure cancer patients are seen, diagnosed and treated sooner, and an AI discharge summary.
