The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust (QEH) has published its new strategy for 2024-2030, with digital and data highlighted as one of nine “essential focus areas”.
The strategy sets out an aim to improve care access and efficiency through use of technology and enhancement of overall digital maturity, and to take a digital-first approach to care through use of tools such as electronic patient records whilst empowering staff to improve their digital skills.
On the key objective of becoming a digitally-enabled and data-driven organisation, QEH states that digital solutions and technology will be “embedded within all care pathways”, with data recorded from care to be used as the foundation to support evidence-based decisions and strategies. The trust commits to supporting staff to develop their digital literacy to maximise the benefits of tech, and to working with ICS partners to support patients in accessing information and engaging digitally in their care.
Specific actions here include implementing an EPR and a “digital first new hospital”. In terms of measuring success, the strategy shares that a number of nationally approved benchmarks such as HIMMS Infrastructure Adoption Model and the NHS Digital Maturity Assessment will be used to map progress. In particular, the EPR programme will aim to improve “currently low” HIMMS and INFRAM scores to level five and three respectively. The latest edition of the trust’s digital strategy is to focus on meeting these targets, alongside “delivering the NHP (New Hospital Programme) digital first hospital”.
With regards to providing clinical excellence across the trust, QEH pledges to “embed continuous quality improvement, research and innovation into everything we do, including digital maturity”. Success is to be measured through initiatives such as an annual review of how advanced practices are integrated, and an ‘excellence questionnaire’ which will gather insights into what each clinical team views as excellence; their requirements for specialised training; and the current landscape around quality improvement.
Additionally, QEH highlights plans to measure success in becoming a “centre of excellence for technology integration” by measuring the number of services adopting artificial intelligence solutions into workflows, and by monitoring the number of staff trained in point of care ultrasound techniques.
Plans are laid out to establish a robust framework for governance and leadership that will promote transparency, accountability and decision-making through continuous improvement, and this will include use of technology for governance purposes such as board management software and risk management solutions.
With an objective focusing around person-centred care and experience, the trust places focus on plans to promote physical health, overall wellbeing and quality of life through a holistic approach, considering unique needs and preferences as part of the care decision-making progress. This will be supported through use of “reliable and timely” data, and data such as patient satisfaction scores and service user analysis will also be used to measure success. QEH will also undertake a thematic review of patient safety incidents related to data errors to identify trends and look to implement preventative measures.
Within the strategy QEH takes the opportunity to highlight a case study around use of tech regarding the roll-out of the patient observation management system (POMS) in March 2023, with the system including e-observations, replacement of inpatient ward boards with digital smartboards, and use of a “WhatsApp-style” app for clinical communications. The trust states that POMS is now fully operational in 16 out of 18 areas with improvements noted in patient safety and overall patient experience, sharing that the past year has seen more than 200,000 e-observations taken and just under 1,500 members of staff using the app to communicate. “Huge benefits” are noted including timely response to messages, time saved by bed co-ordinators, and freeing up ward phone lines.
To view the strategy in full, click here.
Strategies in the spotlight
Last week HTN reported on the Scottish Government’s strategic plan for 2024-2027 for the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre, outlining the vision for a “digitally resilient nation” and setting out an overview of operating principles, functional structure and service development plans.
We explored Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust’s research and development strategy, running until 2028 and built around three key objectives: to undertake a journey of improvement including utilisation of digital healthcare tools and services, to ensure safe, high quality care, and to support and value the workforce.
From South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust we looked into the strategy for 2024 – 2029, which highlights plans to “build a stronger SECAmb ready to face the challenges of the future” with digital tools to play a key role in offering a new service model.
And we highlighted how South Yorkshire ICS published its data and insights strategy for 2024-2026, setting out ambitions to build an intelligence-led system using data to improve health and wellbeing outcomes and experiences, with focus on evaluating care pathways, improving population understanding and tackling health inequalities.
