North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust is to deploy a data warehouse solution and reporting tools from healthcare business intelligence specialist Ardentia to improve data quality, enhance Trust-wide reporting and enable more effective management.
The Trust employs approximately 2000 staff and provides patient centred mental health and specialist learning disability services to people of all ages. To prepare for the wider adoption of service line management and reporting in Mental Health trusts, and to meet the upcoming requirements of NHS Monitor and its move towards Foundation Trust status, the Trust wanted to implement a complete business intelligence system.
After assessing the available solutions, the Trust went through a tendering process and Ardentia's HealthWare data warehouse, Cassius web reporting and Mental Health Reporting modules were selected. The solutions will give Trust-wide access to clinical data, allowing clinicians and managers to make more informed decisions to further improve healthcare provision and optimise financial management.
The Mental Health Reporting module simplifies monitoring of inpatient and community activity, with comprehensive review features ensuring all cases are tracked and handled effectively. The solution will be key as the Trust moves toward applying clusters to patient records and Payment by Results, giving a single reporting and analysis solution to help optimise care delivery.
Simon Clements, Associate Director of North Staffordshire Health Intelligence Service, said: "Having widespread access to better-quality data is crucial to the smooth running of all operations within the Trust. The Ardentia solutions will be instrumental in helping us improve data management and reporting across all services, in order to maintain quality of care and meet the demands of the upcoming reforms in Mental Health."
According to Simon, the Ardentia solutions also offer rich functionality and proven capabilities in NHS Trusts across the UK. They will replace the Trust's existing data repository, which was felt to be not robust enough for its future needs.
The Trust has a 6-month timeline for initial deployment, with the HealthWare data warehouse expected to be operational and populated with data in Q1 2011, and business managers and clinicians using the data in Spring 2011.
North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust also plans to deploy a Patient Level Costing solution, linking activities with finance and electronic staff records. This will play a fundamental role in helping the Trust to operate on a robust financial footing.
About Ardentia
Ardentia is the leading dedicated supplier of healthcare solutions in the UK. We work at every level of the health service, including Trusts and PCTs among our clients, as well as SHAs and National organisations. This means that our team has unrivalled experience in delivering highly effective business information services to healthcare organisations.
Our aim is to provide those responsible for healthcare, whether they are managers or clinicians, the tools they need for evidence-based management.
That is the best way to ensure that healthcare is delivered to the highest standards of quality and as cost-effectively as possible.