NWAS
“ We need to make sure that flexible working is a really accepted way to work as part of a digital team ”
ABIGAIL HARRISON CIO , NWAS
a start-to-end view of when a call comes in , what resource have we sent , who is that patient , and are we providing the right care for them . The next step is to start painting a better patient picture , integrating with hospital records , GP records , and linking into other data sets to start having more predictive capability ."
NWAS has also implemented Power BI , Microsoft ' s business analytics tool . " We ’ re just starting out but this will really enable us to give our clinicians and managers real time access to information to make decisions , to help them make the right decisions based on data ," Harrison says . " It ' s also enabled us to really hone in on different groups in our population . For example , we ' ve done a lot of work recently around mental health , pulling the data out to understand what variations , what experience our patients have with mental health issues , and how that compares to a physical health condition ."
Sammut adds that while levels of data literacy and the hunger for data has grown , the aim is not to commoditise it , but use it to drive improvements , both for NWAS and for the patients . " As a nation , we ' ve never been inundated with so much information before , and people really appreciate it because it ' s giving insights we ' d never really thought about before ."
Data is also an important component of the new dashboards they are developing , with an interactive platform that gives clinicians access to the latest communications . NWAS is also in the process of rolling out iPads to frontline staff . Part of a nationally funded piece of work from NHSX , Harrison says these will be rolled out in the next six months and for both personal use as well as accessing all of NWAS ' systems .
Another product NWAS has developed is SafeCheck , a platform that enables staff to manage vital quality checks and monitor quality and safety in real time . " We ’ re building on this as part of our Smart programme by using the latest technologies to reduce admin time and manage vital tasks ," Harrison says .
NWAS is currently testing SafeCheck within the stock rooms of four sites , where they have automated smart lighting to enable staff to more easily find the equipment they need . " It ' s taking seconds out of the time it takes staff to do what they need to do ," Harrison says . " All of this links back to our product safe check , which is
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