Meeting CQUIN targets and improving operational efficiency
According to the NHS, VTE causes 25,000 avoidable deaths a year and costs the taxpayer £640m[1]. In meeting the CQUIN targets, trusts and hospitals can realise up to 1.5% of their annual budget – worth millions of pounds in many cases. However, the ability to monitor VTE and act in a timely manner to prevent it is heavily reliant in many cases on manual processes, paper forms and spreadsheet reports – making it time consuming, expensive and very difficult to understand and control the number of cases.
Challenges for NHS trusts and hospitals:
- CQUIN schemes account for 1.5% of trust incomes, but meeting these targets is made difficult by disparate data, manual processes and paper records
- At Jan 2011 – the average trust compliance with CQUIN was 37%. Fewer than 25% conduct root-cause analysis of VTE [2]
- Data collection is critical, but data is often required from disparate sources and multiple sites
- Retrospective data analysis
What they want:
- Compliance with VTE and wider CQUIN goals through assessment and treatment, reporting on incidence and undertake root-cause analysis
- Easy audit of performance by clinical areas, identifying issues to address
- Reduced incidence of hospital-acquired thrombosis
- Maximised budget allocation through meeting performance goals
- Clinical alerts when indicators point to a potential VTE case
How Microsoft Amalga can help
The All-Party Parliamentary Thrombosis Group (APPTG) recommends that a CQUIN-compliant electronic VTE risk assessment template is used by clinicians. In fact, Electronic VTE assessment solutions are cited to raise compliance on VTE assessment from 30% to over 90% in 1 year[3].
Microsoft Amalga’s “Analysis of the venous thromboembolism (VTE) form” – a tool that assesses hospital patients’ risk of VTE – allows clinicians and operations staff to undertake analysis and compliance monitoring instantaneously, incorporating:
Features to aid compliance with VTE assessment target:
- System prompts and workflows that help clinicians and enable oversights to be identified and addressed in near real-time
- Data views to populate dashboards, electronic bed board displays, medication record and discharge summary
- Provision of NICE guidance on VTE prophylaxis
- Data views to aid monthly performance reporting to CQUIN and clinical teams
- Analytics that facilitate root-cause analysis of VTEs and communication of findings
Benefits for NHS trusts and hospitals
- Automated electronic templates for recording VTE information, pre-populated with existing patient data
- Reduction of paper and manual processes
- Near real-time assessment of risk and benchmarking of performance against targets
- Informed decision making, treatment and prevention
- Ability to analyse information, not just record it
Benefits for patients
- Reduced risk of VTE contraction
- Speeds up and improves care
[2] Source: Whittington NHS Trust
[3] Source: London Clinic
