Information-clinical analysis. The data today. Real-time monitoring can alert trusts to clinical performance problems--before the star-ratings do it for them.
Collecting, analysing and distributing data on clinicians' performance has long been considered a touchy, even taboo, subject. However, a growing number of trust chief executives and medical directors are realising the value of creating an accurate picture of what they are doing and how well they are doing it--and in as close to real time as possible. As one put it: 'We can't afford to wait until the star-ratings are published to know if we are not doing well enough.' The spur for many has been the publication of standardised mortality ratio data for individual hospitals by health information providers Dr Foster. The poor performers wanted to pinpoint where their weaknesses were and the good performers wanted to know what they needed to do to maintain it. Over the past two years, the company has been working with acute trusts to introduce real-time monitoring and analysis of clinical information, which includes measurement of clinical outcomes, admission trends, mortality, length of stay, readmissions, base costs and infection rates. Some plan to show individual clinicians how their performance compares to colleagues and other departments, while others are being more cautious. Independently, HSJ spoke to a selection to find out how they were implementing the systems and what they hoped to achieve.
Peter
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Handslip
Matthew
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Swindells
Charles
C
Allan
Martin
M
Clifton
Hilary
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Thomas
D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D008485:Medical Audit; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D013222:State Medicine / Q000592:standards; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology