Innovation Exchange - Digital technology to support clinically led, patient focused reviews and validation of waiting lists for elective inpatient, outpatient and diagnostic services for adults and children (including specialised services).

Addressing elective care waiting lists, enabling patients to live healthier lives, is one of the NHS’ top priorities for 2021/22. Following the impact of the COVID19 pandemic, significant progress has been achieved by the NHS to meet elective targets.

In support of efforts to continue to achieve these targets, now and in the future, the East and West Midlands AHSNs invited suppliers of digital solutions that can address the challenge statements below to an Innovation Exchange virtual event.

The event on 4 November 2021 provided suppliers who have solutions to these challenge statements the opportunity to showcase their offer to interested parties.

Challenge statements

Suppliers of elective care recovery solutions were required to evidence how they can support the requirements of the NHS 2021/22 priorities and operational planning guidance to:

• Track waiting lists, provide dynamic planning of elective and shared capacity and provide demand and monitoring data
• Identify the clinically most urgent patients for clinical review, enabling effective prioritisation (cancer and P1/P2 surgical treatments, for example)
• Identify the longest waiters, with a particular focus on the analysis of waiting times by ethnicity and deprivation, to tackle health inequalities
• Show awareness of NHSX DTAC requirements and DPIA requirements, with a clear plan to meet them (if not already) for example, industry standard data security and confidentiality, evidence of how the solution can support the management of clinical risk, etc.
• Successfully, and safely operationally mobilise rapidly

Additional requirements of supplier and solutions

Solutions were required to have:

• An ‘easy to learn and use’ front end and data analytics functionality for staff
• Support staff to become more digitally literate and capable of using their solution, through a suite of educational resources and different delivery mechanisms (training, for example)
• Provide dedicated analytical and change management expertise, experience, and skills, working with clinicians and managerial staff to ‘best fit’ their solution in practice, co-designing solutions.

Next steps

We encouraged suppliers to express their interest in how they might meet the identified challenge statements, these were presented at the event.

For more information on this process or to get involved please email Phillip Stimpson, Senior Lead – Innovation and Improvement, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Resources

Event recording - Innovation Exchange - elective care waiting list prioritisation