Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH) NHS Foundation Trust has published its operational plan for 2024/25 and quality improvement and innovation strategy for 2024 to 2028, outlining aims and ambitions around digital, innovation, and use of data.
According to the operational plan, key areas of focus include ensuring best use of services; recovering of services to 2019/2020 levels; a focus on ‘getting it right first time’; and improving access to the right care in a timely manner. Digital and tech are expected to play a role in diagnostics development, with the ICB introducing digital pathways for endoscopy patients with Rotherham and Barnsley; and in plans to work with partners to deliver key work streams such as endoscopy software, cardiac MRI software, dermatology EOI and Echo images.
Regarding data, the trust will be working on building its understanding of mandated data requirements and building-in “appropriate” recording and reporting requirements; improving on horizon scanning and “ensuring inclusion in data forecasting the capacity required”; and increasing the emphasis placed on audit data to help map and improve operational delivery. For clinical specialties services, all services are also set to have a data dashboard to help monitor performance and quality.
The quality and improvement and innovation strategy sets out aims to develop new ways of working co-produced with patients, colleagues, and partners, embedding quality and improvement into the organisational culture and realise “tangible benefits” across quality, morale, delivery and use of resources. In particular, DBTH aims to develop “an explicit management system” aligning with the strategy, vision and purpose of the organisation at board level and throughout the workforce structures, with digital transformation and the federated data platform as key drivers alongside others such as workforce training and clinical leadership.
The strategy also offers insight into how DBTH has been working to embed quality improvement and innovation in the way the trust works, including advertising training on the topic, scheduling regular events to support staff, and sharing weekly social media posts to increase awareness.
Spotlight on Doncaster and Bassetlaw
Last month, DBTH announced that it had selected AGFA HealthCare’s enterprise imaging radiology information system (RIS) to replace existing systems across five sites, with AGFA’s solution to support the full end-to-end medical imaging pathway.
Earlier in the year, HTN reported on pilot scheme at DBTH trialling the use of VR training for medical students, using a computer-generated scenario in which participants can virtually interact with patients, administer tests, ask patients questions, interact with other medical professionals and more.
Strategy developments from September
September was a busy month for strategy across the NHS, with HTN covering publications including South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust’s (SECAmb) trust strategy for 2024 – 2029, highlighting 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.
We also looked into Royal Cornwall Hospitals’ 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.
In King’s Lynn, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) shared a 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.
There was also news from NHS England, with a strategy published detailing the primary care implementation of the NHS patient safety strategy, noting the role of digital and data in areas such as automatically flagging patient safety issues to support reliability, and supporting clinical decision-making by digitally embedding diagnosis advice and safety netting.
