NHS England has announced the opening of a network of 42 ‘traffic control centres’ to support the country’s new integrated care systems (ICSs).
The move has come as part of the health service’s wider winter resilience plan, published in October, with the prime aim of helping get patients into hospital beds as quickly as possible.
It has given each of the ICSs a dedicated 24/7 operation centre in which teams including senior clinicians can use data and local insights to make considered decisions. The centres will also be used for planning to deal with pressures over weekends, bank holidays and public events that can affect services.
An NHS England document published in October lists the data sources to be used by the centres, including: local primary care information returns; the National Ambulance Coordination Centre; the National Bed Tracking Dashboard; admissions and Covid-19 forecasting models; real time data on the availability of acute, mental health and community beds; the real time virtual ward bed state; demand and capacity information from domiciliary care providers; primary care demand; and the Emergency Care Data Set.
Clinical and operational support
Their key deliverables include improved situational awareness for clinical and operational leaders, support for the holistic and real time management of capacity and performance, the capacity to divert support from one place or region to another, and improved clinical outcomes.
The document adds that it is recognised that some ICSs had some of the functions and that they should build on existing systems and processes.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said: “These locally delivered control centres are just one part of our wide ranging preparations for winter but will play a vital role in the sharing and use of vital information to drive smarter decision making by local NHS teams.
“From Maidstone to Lincoln, less than six weeks after we issued our national guidance, we have teams across England working around the clock monitoring and responding to information and insights from frontline services to help spread resources and make the best possible decisions for both staff and patients.”
