A team from the North East Quality Observatory Service (NEQOS) has been selected by the Health Foundation, an independent charity, to be part of its Advancing Applied Analytics programme, which aims to improve analytical capability in support of health and care services.
The programme is supporting 11 project teams in the UK that are working on local, innovative, ambitious projects, to help them demonstrate the value of improving analytical capability in health and care services.
Each project will run for up to 15 months and will start by October 2018.
The project from NEQOS, which is hosted by Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, aims to explore what clinicians need when it comes to interacting with data, and seeks to improve the way in which data visualisation is used by clinicians so that it can lead to improvements in quality of care.
Although interactive data visualisation (DV) tools are increasingly being used by NHS clinicians, they are usually used for real-time operational data, rather than for helping to produce recommendations about how quality of care could be improved. We are delighted to have the opportunity, through this project, to look at whether more bespoke DV or other data interfaces may be more in line with clinician requirements and will explore whether they can in fact lead to actionable outcomes.
Paula WhittyDirector, NEQOS
Martin Bardsley, Senior Fellow at the Health Foundation, said: “We know from our report Understanding analytical capability in health care the importance of improving the way we use information and analysis in the NHS. It is widely acknowledged that health care services cannot access the right type of analysis or make the best use of data that already exist, never mind take advantage of new data streams and methods that are becoming possible.
“This is the second round of our Advancing Applied Analytics programme and we have selected 11 exciting local projects that will demonstrate how better analysis can lead to better health and care. In particular these projects will address the capability deficiencies that exist, and provide lessons for the wider health and care system. We look forward to working with the project teams to highlight the value of analytical skills and explore the best ways that they can be delivered.”