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NHS Forth Valley Enhances Capacity and Flow Management with MicroStrategy Dashboard
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization
- Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems
Applicable Industries
- Healthcare & Hospitals
Applicable Functions
- Facility Management
- Business Operation
Use Cases
- Predictive Maintenance
- Process Control & Optimization
- Remote Asset Management
Services
- System Integration
- Software Design & Engineering Services
The Challenge
The winter of 2012 saw hospitals around the country, including NHS Forth Valley, facing challenging capacity issues as patient demand and the complexity of cases increased sharply for a variety of demographic reasons. With a much larger volume of patients, and a strict ‘seen within four hours’ waiting policy, it was crucial for NHS Forth Valley to allocate beds, in the most efficient way possible, to cope effectively with demand and patient flow. Previously, NHS Forth Valley was required to undertake a ward by ward check of bed and flow status. This was not only time consuming and inefficient but often by the time it had been completed, the staff would find that the provision of beds around the hospital had changed, leaving the reports out of date. This highlighted the need for real-time information to allow clinicians and service managers to monitor capacity and flow across the system and focus efforts on areas of building pressure. NHS Forth Valley wanted a clear, easy-to-understand system that would allow staff to see whole system capacity, flow and access in near to real time.
About The Customer
NHS Forth Valley is responsible for providing health services and improving the well-being of the 300,000 residents of Forth Valley. It is part of a single integrated system, comprising of acute hospital services and community-based services, and annually controls a budget of £500 million. In its acute hospital, four community hospitals and 56 health centres, NHS Forth Valley employs around 7000 staff from a wide range of professional and support occupations.
The Solution
At the end of November 2012, MicroStrategy set up a project to create a detailed dashboard that pulls data from systems already in place at NHS Forth Valley and produces a real-time, overall picture of patient movement and bed availability. With its clear and intuitive front-end, the dashboard shows yesterday’s overall system status and an ability to view 3 month trend data relating to demand and access. It also provides a system view of what’s going on across the acute and community hospitals at a glance with an overarching ‘traffic light’ view of demand and capacity. With various graphical layouts and an automated alerts system, Microstrategy’s system gives staff the information they need to understand how to best utilise beds to meet the pressure of the four-hour patient access targets. Jonathan Procter, IM&T Director, NHS Forth Valley commented: “MicroStrategy’s solution provides us with the clarity we require to make informed decisions during our busiest periods. It has provided us with clear trigger points; when things hit red on the ‘Traffic light’ alerts clinicians and management to capacity issues. When it hits purple they’ll be called urgently. The system has been hugely instrumental in helping us to monitor and manage patient demand over a trying winter. I would definitely recommend other NHS authorities engage with it to determine if it can work as well for them.” The dashboard, which is updated three times daily, allows key people across the system to see what’s happening on other wards in the hospital to enable all parts of the system to work effectively to maintain good patient flow and care.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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