F E A T U R E
TWARE ARE FOR PATIENTS
The NHS will roll out new software this spring to deliver better joinedup care for millions of patients , help tackle waiting lists and reduce hospital discharge delays . The software will bring together existing NHS data , making it easier for staff to access key information to provide improved and more timely patient care .
The new tool , known as the Federated Data Platform , will join up key information currently held in separate NHS systems to tackle some of the big challenges the health service faces coming out of the pandemic .
By bringing together real time data , such as the number of beds in a hospital , the size of elective waiting lists , staff rosters , the availability of medical supplies and social care places , staff can plan and maximise resources such as operating theatre and outpatient clinic time to ensure patients receive more timely care .
Following an open and competitive tender process , the contract to provide the software has been awarded to a group led by Palantir Technologies UK , with support from Accenture , PwC , NECS and Carnall Farrar .
The contract award will see investment over the course of seven years as more trusts join the platform . In the first contract year , investment is expected to be at least £ 25.6m . Over the contractual period of seven years , there will be up to £ 330m investment in the Federated Data Platform and associated services . No company involved in the Federated Data Platform can access health and care data without the explicit permission of the NHS . All data within the platform is under the control of the NHS and will only be used for direct care and planning . It will not be used to access data for research purposes and GP data will not feed into the national version of the software platform .
Pilot projects using the new data-sharing approach have seen a drop in waiting times for planned care and in discharge delays and seen faster diagnosis and treatment times . Since introducing the system , North Tees and Hartlepool Trust has reduced long term stays ( 21 days or more ) by 36 % despite increased demand , with 7.7 % more patients being admitted to the hospital .
NHS National Director for Transformation , Dr Vin Diwakar , said : “ Better use of data is essential for the NHS to tackle waiting times , join up patient care and make the health service sustainable for the future . Patients come
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