Collaboration Forum Series 5: Building a brighter future (Week-3)

The past 12 months have shone a spotlight on our healthcare system: from its ability to cope under extreme pressure, to the swift delivery of the vaccine programme – the NHS “has never been better than it is at this time”, according to Tim Sacks, who is running the Covid vaccine programme in the Midlands.

But the period has created new pressures for the much-loved national institution, which is beginning to emerge from the eye of the storm. Waiting lists for non-Covid related conditions have increased and much of the workforce is exhausted and burned out. In addition, the rampant march of technology is providing new ways for patients to access appointments, and demand just keeps growing.

“We’ve got a patient demographic that is more conscious about their health because of what’s happened,” said Wais Shaifta, chief executive at Push Doctor, which provides online video appointments. “We’ve done a lot over the past 10 to 20 years around prevention as a cure. But how can you get an 18-year-old to be conscious about their health? A health event usually has to happen for them to take notice. We’ve now got these conscious patients and demand that hasn’t been seen before.”

Everyone agreed that using quality data would be key to improving the NHS. This would also help to relieve pressure on the system, they said. But it’s clear there is some way to go before data is used consistently. Tim Sacks described some real innovation in the vaccine programme. But, at the same time, Raj Nair, consultant urological surgeon at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London, shared a different story.

“The level of data we have on patients has also increased with technology, said Sacks. “For example, we can understand more about people who specifically need vaccinating, by practice, and by postcode. We’ve been able to go and knock on doors and vaccinate people. We’ve never been able to do that in the NHS before. And that’s only going to improve our ability to manage healthcare in the long run.”

In contrast, Raj Nair said that a few years ago, a male patient arrived at hospital for an operation. At the front desk, he was asked for his name, date of birth and whether he had any allergies. He openly shared the information, and then proceeded up to the next floor, to speak with another team. But they asked him the same questions.

The process happened again and again, as the patient continued through the hospital. Once he reached the area outside the operating theatre, another team started again. But this time he packed his bags and left. When the hospital contacted him to ask why, he said there were just too many opportunities for errors to be made.

“One thing the NHS lacks, when you compare it to healthcare organisations across the world, is the ability to accurately collate and process data in real time. There’s often a bit of a lag,” said Raj Nair. “There is a need for better data collection; there’s a need for much more accurate data in the healthcare system.”

That said, the future of healthcare will depend on embracing data like never before. As the vaccination programme rolls out, the insight that Tim Sacks talks about, provides a unique opportunity to help patient groups that were previously hard to access. At the same time, technology platforms will help triage patients towards the right point of care, more quickly.

Clinicians like Raj Nair also believe that common data sets are the key to everything. He thinks that technology, and external partners, can help to improve workflow planning and patient planning, too. That’s good news in a system that will be working hard to reduce waiting lists and return to business as usual this year.

“In future, working with other partners, in the private healthcare sector and healthcare technology, will be important,” he said. “I think the NHS needs to recognise this, and making a silo out of itself, is probably not the way to go right now. It can gain that help from everyone.”