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Big data and the health service

Guest blog by Eileen Milner, who explains how better analysis of existing patient data could improve health services.

Nobody can deny that this is a challenging time for the NHS. Like many areas of the public sector, budgets and resources are being stretched further than ever before and following the Mid-Staffs report public confidence in our national health service is at a very low point.

However, there is something the NHS could be doing now, which does not require considerable financial investment, to help ensure it is delivering the highest quality services for patients.

It's becoming increasingly clear that the NHS should be doing more with the data it already has at its fingertips. As with many areas of the public sector, the amount of data captured (often referred to as a 'big data') about the average citizen when they interact with the state has substantially increased in recent years and, as a result, analysis of this data by companies such as Northgate Public Services, has become an increasing area of innovation.

We now have the analytical tools to effectively and efficiently scrutinise large sets of NHS data, whether that's analysing data from one trust or perhaps analysing data about a particular procedure offered by hospitals around the country – ultimately the findings of which can help clinicians identify ways of improving patient outcomes and address any concerning anomalies.

A really good example of where Northgate is already managing and analysing large data sets for the NHS is our involvement in the National Joint Registry (NJR), which holds the largest and most comprehensive set of data measuring outcomes following joint replacement surgery in the world.  With hundreds of orthopaedic implants available, analysis of NJR data, in an anonymised format, is essential to track and predict patient outcomes, and to highlight early any potential problems (or ‘outliers’) which can then be investigated fully. I strongly believe that we are only at the start of this journey and that investment in thorough, intelligent and insightful analysis of existing data hospitals already hold about patients could really help healthcare professionals, commissioners and patients alike. It will help us to gain a clearer understanding of outcomes from different treatments to inform clinical best practice and patient choice.

CASE STUDY – How data analysis can benefit trusts: Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH)

Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) is an initiative led by the Department of Health (DH), which aims to assess the quality of care delivered to NHS patients from the patient perspective. Since 2009 PROMS scores have been captured on all patients undergoing hip and knee replacements as well as varicose veins and hernias. Orthopaedic surgeon Andy Goldberg is leading a team at the RNOH to collect outcome data.

His team have been responsible for building and testing a new system that surveys every patient attending the hospital capturing PROMs as well as other measures of quality and patient satisfaction before and after surgery. The RNOH system not only captures mandated data but is also leading the way in widening the net to capture data for all procedures on every single patient across the trust. 

He said: “The project will enable better benchmarking for procedures and their outcomes, supporting the Government’s plans of Getting it Right First Time. There is no question that patients receiving the right operation at the right time in the right place will get better outcomes, and reduce the costs of dealing with complications and costly revision surgery.”

Eileen Milner is executive director of business strategy at Northgate Public Services.