Winter is always a difficult time for the NHS, with some health conditions being worsened by cold weather, including asthma. This, along with other ‘seasonal illnesses’ such as flu, means the NHS is often overwhelmed during the winter months.
These pressures occur during winter every year, but with Covid-19 still a threat nearly two years on, this winter could create an even greater demand on the NHS services.
The Academy of Medical Sciences have released a report titled ‘Covid-19: Preparing for the future – Looking ahead to winter 2021/22 and beyond’ which outlines the challenges that the NHS will face this winter. These include:
By definition, interoperability in healthcare is the ability of health information systems to work together within and across different organisations to advance the effective delivery of healthcare for individuals and communities. With the increasing pressures on the NHS this winter, here are the ways in which interoperability can help overcome these challenges.
Having greater access to real-time patient data from health and social care settings, allows for more accurate diagnosis and treatments. A holistic view of a patient’s full medical history can aid in reducing errors or duplication of work, saving clinicians both time and resources. This saved time can be then spent treating patients, to speed up their recovery, increase beds available in hospital settings and work to reduce the backlog in care.
The pressures on the NHS system show the need for better connected systems across health and social care. Joined up systems means joined up patient care. Connecting health and social care systems reduces the duplication of effort between different settings. Saving time in this way allows for more time to be spent face to face with patients, reducing errors and improving quality of care. More efficient care may benefit the patient by reducing the length of stay in hospital, helping free up staff resources crucial during the winter months. Plus, saved time can be used to focus on the backlog of treatment caused by the pandemic.
Sharing patient data between health and care organisations allows patients to be treated at the right place at the right time, whether that be at a GP practice, in the community or in a hospital. Coordinating care effectively in this way can help increase treatment outside of hospital settings and reduces hospital admissions, to ease the pressures within secondary care. For those who do require treatment in hospitals, there is a reduction in delays in transfer. With access to all necessary data, clinicians can make faster more informed decisions, which allows for rapid discharge and reduced readmissions.
In conclusion, the pressures upon the NHS will face this winter are ever increasing. By implementing interoperability solutions, day to day processes can be simplified and made more efficient which will help to relieve the challenges.
At Healthcare Gateway, we are interoperability specialists, and provide a managed service which helps organisations to achieve interoperability goals at scale and pace in order to improve the quality and efficiency of care in health and social care settings. Get in touch to find out more about how working with us can help ease winter challenges.
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