New software provides digital boost for healthcare providers in Wigan

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) started using Qlik Cloud data analytics in 2012, which allowed staff to easily access and analyse data about patients.

This meant frontline teams had the information they needed to hand, driving great efficacies in hospital operations and improving patient outcomes.

For example, they were able to remove bottlenecks in patient care and reduce the waiting time for an MRI from 10 days to two days.

The trust’s data leaders believed that to further improve outcomes for patients, they needed to provide the wider health and care network with better access to the data.

They have now extended deployment of Qlik Cloud to enable the sharing of data with associated organisations, including social care teams, GP surgeries, community health groups, mental health practitioners and more.

Mark Singleton, associate director of data analytics and assurance at WWL, said: “Over the past decade, Qlik has enabled us to put data at the heart of primary care and operational decision-making, equipping staff with real-time insights to make more informed decisions, transforming the patient experience, and improving outcomes.

“Qlik now enables us to share our data with other health and care organisations, so that we are able to take a joined-up and informed approach at every touchpoint in a patient’s care pathway.

“With the introduction of alerting capabilities, we will empower every organisation in our network to achieve active intelligence, where the data not only informs our actions, but will help community-based professionals, like GPs and social workers, to understand when their support is required.

“This will truly augment our ability to proactively help patients in the best possible way as the need arises.”

Qlik Cloud has provided professionals in the health and care system with essential insights into a patient’s healthcare journey, so they can understand their full medical history and take informed actions.

For example, the trust shares A&E data with GP surgeries, so the next time someone visits their doctor, the GP has a complete view of whether a patient has been admitted to hospital, the reason and duration of their stay, and any medication they received.

Similarly, social care workers are notified in real-time when a person they care for is admitted to hospital and does not require a home visit.

Mr Singleton said: “Healthcare actually only contributes 15 per cent to someone’s health and well-being.

“The other 85 per cent are broader determinants such as their behaviours, social and environmental factors. Therefore, it’s crucial that we share data with other health and social care providers and don’t maintain our separate silos to keep our population healthy.”

Access to this data ensures medical professionals are equipped with the most up-to-date, relevant information on a patient’s medical history, while also freeing up time previously spent searching through records.

WWL is planning to introduce new functionalities, such as proactive alerting, which will notify clinicians when a patient requires attention, like a new medicine or direct intervention.

Senior management at WWL can also use Qlik to remotely check the hospital’s status updates via their mobile device, even when they are off-site.

Adam Mayer, a senior manager at Qlik, said: “By leveraging cloud-based data analytics, WWL is providing its network of health and care organisations with the complete picture of a patient’s medical interactions, so that every organisation can work together.”

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