Digital Transformation

GP practices face demands to use data in more and more ways – identifying trends, reporting on activity and health outcomes and using technology to manage and deliver efficient services to their patients. This is alongside many of the other demands they have on a day-to-day basis.

The Digital Transformation Lead at PGPA leads on improvement and innovation in the use of digital technology across General Practice in Calderdale, supporting Primary Care Networks and helping them to improve access to care for their patients. Pennine GP Alliance’s Data Scientist ensures the organisation uses data to evaluate and improve services, this includes improving data quality, visualising data and automating the monitoring of services.

Matt Davies, PGPA’s Digital Transformation Lead

Population Health Management

Nationally Primary Care is shifting focus from reactive care to proactive and preventative care of patients. By looking at data trends in the population, otherwise known as population health management, Primary Care Networks can attempt to target their care to those affected by health inequalities and provide support to people earlier, preventing worsening ill health or new conditions developing.

The Digital Transformation Team are key to this approach as they both analyse existing population health data and work to improve it.

Software

There are many digital solutions being used by GP Practices to increase efficiency and accuracy, the Digital Transformation Team can help practices to fully understand and correctly utilise these solutions. They can also source apps and software for GP practices, with a view to saving staff time, enabling practices to spend more time on patient care.

Digital Inclusion

A key focus for the team is tackling digital exclusion, particularly among vulnerable patients who may struggle to access online services. The team has developed ways of practices identifying patients at high risk of digital exclusion, to allow for targeted interventions such as signposting to digital support services. They are also working with community partners to run digital skills sessions for patients, helping them to build confidence accessing healthcare online. In addition, the team hosts drop-in sessions to support patients in logging into and effectively using the NHS app for ordering prescriptions, viewing their health records, checking test results and managing appointments.

Clinical efficiencies

To further modernise general practice, the team is helping GP practices unlock the full potential of their current clinical systems; by regularly visiting practices, providing hands-on support and fostering collaboration, they enable clinicians to streamline administrative tasks, freeing up more time for patient care. Recent examples of this are:

A new pathology auto-review tool
Adding a cancellation link to SMS messages to reduce non-attendance
Automated clinical template generation to support the recording of reasonable adjustments
Setting up patient online registration.

Measuring impact

Measuring impact is crucial to ensuring that our initiatives within healthcare drive meaningful improvements and deliver value. To achieve this, we complete regular impact assessments of teams, projects and services to track key performance indicators and provide actionable insights. Evaluation reports are shared regularly with Primary Care Network managers and commissioners. Additionally, we provide a regular monthly ‘demand and supply’ update to GP practices to help them understand their demand and activity, to help them plan their services better.