The Health Foundation Selects Digital Projects for a £1.5m Programme

The Health Foundation has now selected 21 projects that will take part in the sixth round of the £1.5m Innovating for Improvement programme.

Sarah Henderson, Health Foundation Associate Director, told BJ-HC this is a ‘common focus’, especially for solutions focusing on remote monitoring or self-management of conditions.

“Choosing data as the theme for round six has also led to a significant number of projects implementing digital technology as this often involves harnessing the power of data,” Henderson said.

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, a Global Digital Exemplar, will work on a project based on the use of natural language processing to extract knowledge from events and patient comments, streamlining analysis of feedback, set to run for a period of 15 months.

“Free text Friends and Family Test comments are collected in outpatient, inpatient, maternity and A&E services. It is anticipated this intervention will improve care, especially the relational aspects of care, across these four services.”

The trust will work with Imperial College London’s Big Data and Analytical Unit to use ‘in-house visualisation tools’ to create ‘relevant and targeted’ analysis.

“Their reports will help enable a culture of ‘measure for improvement’,” Henderson explained.

Software solution to reduce crowding by 20%

Meanwhile, Addenbrooke’s hospital, part of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, another Global Digital Exemplar, will deploy flow|ER, a software solution that is expected to predict overcrowding in Emergency Departments up to eight hours before and offer solutions to help support staff.

Henderson said the innovation could potentially reduce crowding by 20%, with figures showing it could benefit 11,100 patients per year:

“The project will start in September 2017 and will last for 15 months, including a three month initial set-up period.”

More details about the Innovating for Improvement programme can be found here.