March 31, 2016 Guest opinion piece
A view from Siân Hughes, Acumentive Ltd
Anyone who has ever heard the three letters ‘NHS’ used together could probably recite verbatim the need to save costs, improve efficiencies, undergo transformational change…and deliver better quality patient care.
Much of the focus, albeit driven from media headlines, is on the clinical side – and quite rightly given that’s the NHS’ job. The push towards a paperless and digital healthcare system, and the billions channelled to this is ever present. ‘Patient-driven health’ and ‘EHR’ are constant buzzwords.
The latest (and previous) report by Lord Carter, Operational productivity and performance in English NHS acute hospitals: Unwarranted variations certainly highlights the need for improvements on the clinical side but also touches on the operational, or behind-the-scenes, aspects that can drive efficiencies and cost-savings. Areas such as procurement, optimising supply chain and inventory management are now seen to have a place in NHS reform. This is similarly echoed in mandates around GS1 standards, roadmaps from the National Information Board, and the Five Year Forward View.
Very few trusts are able to demonstrate even a basic level of control or visibility over total inventory or purchase order compliance that is common practice in other health systems and industrial sectors such as retail.
“To truly performance manage quality and efficiency on a regular basis, seamless real-time data is needed, which in turn requires investment in inter-operable information technology.”Lord Carter of Coles, 2016