Professor Ronan Lyons, Director of The Farr Institute CIPHER and NCPHWR, Swansea University and Honorary Consultant with Public Health Wales NHS Trust
Researchers at the Farr Institute have created the Prudent Healthcare Intelligence Hub to deliver better outcomes for the NHS through the use of information technology.
The Challenge
The NHS in Wales is faced with the challenge of achieving better outcomes for patients with an ever increasing demand on healthcare services and shrinking budgets and resources.
NHS Wales is at the forefront of a growing international effort to gain greater value from healthcare systems for patients by taking on the principles of Prudent Healthcare, which are:
- Healthcare should fit the needs and circumstances of the citizen.
- Healthcare should actively avoid waste and harm.
- Healthcare that brings little or no benefit should be abandoned.
- Healthcare must make the best possible use of the limited financial resources available.
The Prudent Healthcare Intelligence Hub
Without the ability to link data held in medical records Health Boards in Wales have limited insight into the results of the services it provides and the evidence needed to effectively direct future planning.
To tackle this problem, the Farr Institute has created The Prudent Healthcare Intelligence Hub to deliver better outcomes for the NHS through the use of information technology.
The Prudent Healthcare Intelligence hub is a pan-NHS Wales unit and uses the anonymised health records and data held in the SAIL Databank to better understand their population, evaluate and plan services appropriately.
The Prudent Healthcare Intelligence Hub is currently working alongside Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board, Cwm Taf and Aneurin Bevan University Health Boards, Public Health Wales NHS Trust and the Wales Ambulance Service Trust.
Work Underway
The first project involves working with Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board (ABMU) on looking at data to inform and help make stroke care more effective.
The Health Board had recognised that there had been a steady rise in the number of stroke patients treated in hospital and the lengths of their stay. Multiple datasets and records are being brought together to measure risk factors and different types of strokes and their care pathway. The results of this research can then be used to inform and improve the services provided by GP surgeries. Working alongside the Unit, the Health Board is seeking to find out what it should do to improve stroke services given limited resources in a time of austerity and increasing demands.
For further information on Prudent Healthcare, visit: http://www.prudenthealthcare.org.uk
