How Can Mobilising Patient Flow Data Save Lives?

Trusts and Hospitals Need Data-Driven Knowledge to Inform Practice and Improve Patient Practice. 

 As part of its newly defined data strategy, the Department of Health and Social Care released an outline named “Data Saves Lives.”

The document and subsequent public campaigns emphasise the need to approach healthcare and data with renewed vigour. Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the veracity behind this notion. Given our learnings from the global health crisis, nobody can dispute the lifesaving value of good data – and, reversely, the consequence of poorly managed data. 

Many Trusts and Hospitals around the United Kingdom already realise the myriad applications and uses of data. Efficient and effective data was, and remains, central to our day-to-day response to COVID-19. Powered by vital research, health teams discovered new treatments and resource management procedures that saved multiple lives during the worst periods of COVID-19. 

As a result, this level of digital transformation has transformed how healthcare interacts with the public. Through better data use and management, patients and their families have forged better relationships with the NHS. By giving hospital staff and patients a better understanding of their care journeys, data has forever transformed how we provide care, support and service. 

If we are to continue on this path towards improved patient outcomes, we must heed the words issued in the Data Saves Lives strategy:

“Now is not the time to slow down or pause for breath, when the opportunities are so vast, and the momentum is so great. […] Now is the time to grow our gains. It is our solemn responsibility to continue to improve the quality of life of every person in every community”

Cambio PFM grants health providers the ‘opportunity’ to follow through on this ‘responsibility’. By offering Trusts and hospitals the digital means to manage the patient journey through real-time data, Cambio PFM tangibly saves lives. In providing a clearer view of patient needs, available resources and care staff capacity, Cambio PFM drives more effective support for patients from admissions to post-discharge care. 

Contextualising the Need for Data-Driven Measures to Save Lives 

The COVID-19 response is perhaps the most notable example of organisations leveraging patient flow management platforms to inform decision-making. 

The global health crisis prompted many hospitals to implement a range of interventions to increase hospital capacity to their best abilities; despite the paucity of available resources before the pandemic. 

Before COVID-19, a study published in 2019-2020 by NHS England reported that bed occupancy rate across the country was at an all-time high. Open overnight wards reached 90% capacity on multiple occasions, gravely impacting A&E and elective care services during this period. Consequently, the number of delayed or cancelled health procedures steadily rose, inflicting much distress on patients seeking care. 

Health and public bodies now realise that the crux of the matter lay in a historic dearth of digital resources designed to manage and optimise patient flow. The aftermath of this crisis was largely felt during the pandemic, during which capacity and demand management worsened for struggling hospitals. 

Already placed under extreme strain, health leaders looked towards tools that could not only help them plan capacity, but also project demand for services and resources. Recognising the distressing effect of delayed care on patients and hospitals, health executives turned to solutions like Cambio PFM to amend how they approach patient flow. 

Cambio PFM: Using Data to Save Lives 

In the months since the COVID-19 virus entered and spread throughout the United Kingdom, organisations integrated data-driven patient flow solutions to inform their understanding and response to COVID-19.

Health organisations mobilised digital tools like Cambio PFM to accelerate healthcare decision-making; particularly in their pursuit of saving as many lives as possible. 

With this additional support from Cambio PFM, health providers improved overall health outcomes by using data to manage patient flow accurately. Using Cambio PFM’s data dashboards and projection capacities, health teams accurately identified those who were medically fit for discharge. As a result, Trusts were more agile in freeing bed space for patients urgently needing care, and discharging patients back to the community. 

The availability of these solutions meant that Trusts and hospitals could dispense of solely reactive care practices. No longer burdened by lags in receiving critical information, Trusts used Cambio PFM to reduce delays in receiving treatment, patient discharge and chances of hospital readmission. This allowed health teams to reduce the risk of infection and hospital readmission; a known consequence of delaying needed discharge and procedures for incoming patients.

In creating additional capacity and promoting patient flow improvements, platforms like Cambio PFM reduced recovery time during the pandemic’s acute phases. 

Through Cambio PFM’s ability to store, analyse and transform relevant patient information, health teams acted on patient needs prior to critical health events. The efficacy of solutions like Cambio PFM demonstrated to health leaders the need to further integrate digitised patient flow management solutions in decision-making, particularly in preparing for future health and capacity crises.

Looking Forward

As healthcare continues to innovate and refine practices for managing patient flow, mobilising tools like Cambio PFM will lead to more proactive decision-making and successful care operations. Such platforms will help healthcare organisations to match daily demand with necessary resources and procedures for future surges and pandemics. 

Most importantly, solutions like Cambio PFM will provide the means for better knowledge and information exchange among health teams. Driven by the convergence of patient data visibility, enhanced care coordination and advanced technological settings, Cambio PFM will play a vital role in how hospitals optimise information sharing across multiple care pathways. 

Through its provision of real-time visibility over the patient journey, Cambio PFM allows health staff to anticipate the needs of every patient that enters a care pathway. By helping teams proactively manage patient flow, Cambio PFM identifies needed data-driven interventions that ultimately save lives. 

Get in touch with the Cambio Healthcare Systems UK team today, to help your teams gain greater insights throughout the entire patient journey.