HEALTH MATTERS
DR Mike Clark, Clinical Lead for NHS RightCare at NHS Eastern Cheshire CCG I’M going to start in an unusual way by quoting an American academic called William Edwards Deming - an engineer, author and lecturer who died in 1993, aged 93. One of his best-known quotes is as follows: “Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.”
And that’s certainly the case for NHS clinicians and managers if they start redesigning services without evidence of what the current service achieves or the likely impact of a planned change will be.
For that reason we’re signed up to a national programme called NHS RightCare, which is all about reducing variation in the quality of services to improve people’s health and achieve better value for money.
We’ve combined data from NHS RightCare with information from local service providers to pinpoint the four types of healthcare offering the greatest opportunity for improvement in Eastern Cheshire. These are:
• Cardiovascular and circulation
• Musculoskeletal (bones and joints), including falls prevention
• Neurological (including epilepsy)
• Gastrointestinal (including services for people with alcohol problems).
Using the information provided by NHS RightCare we have been able to identify the areas where we have the greatest opportunity to make improvements and have now developed plans to develop services.
Benefits of using NHS RightCare will include:
• Reduced hospital admissions through earlier detection and treatment of cardiovascular and circulation problems
• More people achieving their blood pressure and cholesterol targets
• Rapid access to the right musculoskeletal advice and support.
In addition, the approach is expected to save nearly £900,000 over the next two to three years by ensuring our services offer national best practice.
NHS RightCare is a proven approach that uses data on variations in performance to find the best opportunities for improvement. It offers advice on involving clinical leaders and working effectively with service providers.