Jonathan Elliott (pictured), Managing Director of Epro – a leading healthcare informatics provider – gives his thoughts on the Lord Darzi report and the current challenges facing the NHS...
How does Lord Darzi’s report affect Labour’s goal to reduce NHS waiting times by increasing the number of appointments available in the system?
As Lord Darzi’s report highlighted, the number of people waiting more than a year for hospital treatment has almost doubled from about four million to almost eight million between August 2007 and June 2024. The consequences of elongated wait times on population health are profound, and reducing this is key. However, adding 40,000 appointments a week is far more than a simple paper exercise.
The reality is that delivering 40,000 more weekly appointments is going to require a quantum shift in clinician productivity – there are no more hours in the day, so the hours available need to be used far more effectively. Healthcare technology solutions that can significantly enhance clinical productivity have to be deployed if trusts have any chance of meeting this governmental promise.
One way to increase productivity is to improve patient flow, in part through the adoption of Digital Dictation and Voice Recognition platforms. These platforms can considerably improve how clinical notes, letters, and referrals are handled – getting these out to patients and GPs roughly 50% quicker (according to Epro’s data), helping to get people through the system faster. In addition, and arguably more important in the context of clinical productivity within the available hours, by reducing clinician time spent on administrative tasks and documentation, these tools free up valuable time, enabling more appointments to be scheduled within the same work hours. Evidence of this is that in Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, Epro noticed an astonishing 74% reduction in the backlog of letters waiting to be typed due to our faster transcription solution, resulting in 16,416 hours saved for clinicians – 16,416 hours made available for patient care.
However, the success of these types of technology solutions depends on their intuitiveness and usability. Expecting healthcare professionals to change working practices and processes will only succeed if platforms have intuitive, user-friendly designs that adhere to industry standards – instilling confidence in the potential of these solutions to increase productivity.
With Lord Darzi’s report highlighting the impact of long A&E wait times and elective treatment backlogs on the NHS, how can healthcare technology providers help alleviate these challenges?
One of the headline takeaways from Lord Darzi’s report is the “awful state” of A&E with long waits likely contributing to an extra 14,000 more deaths a year. And with the report highlighting that roughly 8 million people in the UK are currently waiting for elective treatment, there’s no denying that waiting lists have quickly become one of the most significant issues facing the NHS over the past few years. To effectively reduce wait times and enhance patient flow, trusts and ICSs must capitalise on the great healthcare technology solutions on the market.
By effectively implementing digital dictation technology, for example, clinicians can significantly advance the speed in which they can deliver patient care, due to the fact that critical information reaches the right hands promptly, facilitating quicker decision-making and reducing waiting times, thereby enhancing the quality of patient care. Clinicians can also use these platforms to help with time management activities. These features involve automated scheduling, appointment management, and note integration. For instance, at Epro, our Calendar View technology allows clinicians to navigate their workflow from their allocated patients and liaise with their administrative staff to optimise follow-ups and the relevant clinical documentation with ease.
By using this healthcare technology to get ahead of systematic operational delays, the NHS can pre-emptively address some of the backlog challenges caused by ever-escalating admin pressures and ensure we get the proper care to the right patient sooner rather than later.
How does Lord Darzi’s report highlight the growing strain on NHS mental health services, and how can digital tools help new mental health staff manage workloads and reduce administrative burdens?Lord
Darzi’s recent report has made it clear that something must be done to ease the strain mental health is having on the NHS. In fact, Mental Health charity Mind called the report “a dark day for mental health”, saying the findings showing people in a mental health crisis being held in rooms constructed for a Victorian asylum are “unsurprising”. Yet, Labour’s promise to recruit 8,500 additional mental health staff gives a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Whether the number of staff is enough is arguable, however what is indisputable is the integration of digital tools as crucial to ensuring effective workload management and the best possible care provision to patients.
The report also stated that although hospital staff numbers have increased across the board since the pandemic, the number of appointments and procedures hasn’t because “patients no longer flow through hospitals as they should”. Therefore, it’s clear that just getting bodies through the door isn’t the only answer. The day-to-day of how staff work needs to be improved to enhance the patient experience and we believe that by using technology that enables clinical productivity, clinicians can see more patients in the same amount of time. For example, an intuitive, mobile solution using voice recognition that allows mental health clinicians to update notes, request changes to medication and create referral letters either while with the patient or straight afterwards, can radically reduce the time spent on administrative tasks. At Epro, we have seen first hand how this tool helps clinicians record information verbally, which is much quicker; and requests for additional services and support are processed immediately, avoiding unacceptable delays. Critically, patient information is up to date and with direct integration to the EPR or other legacy systems, all health providers, from acute services to GPs, have immediate and comprehensive visibility of a patient’s current status, making healthcare administrators feel more informed and in control.
These mobile solutions are not just effective, but also cost-effective. Their quick implementation is also a crucial factor, especially in the face of the persistent underfunding of mental health services. By enabling immediate data capture and seamless integration with existing systems, this technology will drastically reduce administrative burdens on staff, mitigating burnout and improving overall job satisfaction.
How does this report highlight the potential for technology to boost productivity in the NHS, and what challenges remain in achieving consistent adoption and integration of digital solutions across the system?
Whilst a lot of the content within the Lord Darzi report was expected, it was still encouraging to read about how technology adoption will enable productivity across the system. The recognition that parts of the NHS are still ‘in the foothills of digital transformation’ may seem harsh but equally recognises that there is still significant scope for productivity improvements through widespread use of technology.
There is some excellent technology in place throughout the NHS but consistent adoption and integration remain a challenge. We see how many great British companies, including many SME’s, have developed some fantastic solutions that deliver real value and tangible business case benefits yet operate below the radar of many in the NHS. Unlocking and promoting some of these world class solutions must be a central plank within the strategy.
We look forward to seeing the 10-year plan come together and the ‘tilt to technology’ enabling more of the great NHS workforce to leverage the benefits that well designed and intuitive health platforms deliver.
