Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust (RUH) has published its research strategy for 2024 – 2029, highlighting how “the digital explosion in healthcare provides us with much data” and outlining the use of this data to support the trust’s key strategic priorities as “core business”.
On creating a culture which embeds research and use of evidence, the trust pledges to establish robust systems in order to capture the impact of research along with evidence on clinical practice and patient outcomes.
RUH aims to “take full advantage of opportunities to use digital and data for research”, with the strategy emphasising the need to maximise the potential of big data analytics to leverage large-scale datasets; to build upon “current research strengths” in machine learning and AI; and to “embrace” digital solutions for document management, communication and data storage. As part of this, the trust plans to implement electronic data capture systems for research studies, so that reliance on paper-based records can be reduced.
The strategy comments on the need to support clinical staff to engage with research by streamlining administrative processes related to research, in order to minimise the admin burden. It also states a plan to provide dedicated research support services in areas such as data collection and analysis.
Read RUH’s strategy in full here.
Research in the spotlight
Yesterday we shared how NHS England and Prostate Cancer Research have launched a collaborative research initiative called Prostate Progress which will see the NHS Research Secure Data Environment linking pseudonymised clinical data with patient-reported outcomes, enabling researchers to access “rich, integrated datasets” about prostate cancer care and experiences.
Earlier in the week we also highlighted how Innovate UK has awarded funding for a project aiming to research how post-market intelligence can be better captured and utilised to safely accelerate medical device innovation and adoption.
Earlier in the year, HTN explored a research journal examining attitudes and experiences of current and potential users of digital mental health technology; read more here.
Also from the region
In terms of other news from Bath and its surrounding regions, in May we noted that RUH, alongside Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust and Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, is to implement a shared electronic patient record.
From nearby Bristol, we reported on a ‘green operating day’ held by North Bristol NHS Trust utilising tech to minimise its carbon footprint, and highlighted how Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICS has launched a digital scheme designed to support patients with COPD in their own homes.
And you can explore the digital and data landscape in 2024 across the South West ICS region here.
