Calderdale and Huddersfield awarded HIMSS stage 6 for analytics capabilities

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT) has achieved stage 6 validation from HIMSS for its use of data and approach to data science.

The validation for HIMSS’ Adoption Model for Analytics Maturity (AMAM), which measures analytics capabilities, took place on 24 May 2024.

HIMSS assesses healthcare organisations’ digital maturity from stage 1-7, with 7 being the highest achievable level.

According to a press release from CHFT, the validation recognised the work of the trust’s 10-year digital and data strategy, highlighting its work around waiting list validation, health inequalities, a vulnerability matrix and the use of predictive modelling to improve outcomes.

Through the use of data-driven validations, the trust reduced its list for follow-up appointments – having peaked post-Covid at 27,000, within weeks the list had been reduced to 23,452.

Rob Birkett, chief digital and information officer at CHFT, said: “The reason why HIMSS is so well thought of it that its validation are approached from a patient-centered perspective.

“It ensures you are using technology and data to improve patient care and safety, patient experience, patient outcomes; that you are using it to make operational decisions and using data to reshape patient pathways and reconfigure service delivery that benefits patients.”

According to Birkett, the HIMSS team were impressed by CHFT’s focus on what the data is telling them.

“This will generally come from clinical, operational and corporate colleagues, not just from digital and business intelligence colleagues, which really shows how much data is embedded within the organisation,” Birkett said.

CHFT and the Health Informatics Service (THIS) – which is hosted by the trust – developed and implemented tools to help identify those with a learning disability, better understand their experiences and monitor the difference they could make to this cohort.

The trust, which runs Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and the Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax, took a data-driven approach, which saw a flagging system with the Cerner/Oracle Millennium EPR introduced.

It also introduced  a learning disabilities data dashboard and a data model offering comparisons against the general population.

The dashboard allows any patient with learning disabilities to be easily identified to ensure they receive the best care there and then, helping reduce the number of too-early discharges and associated readmissions.

Predictive analytics has also played a vital role in supporting hospital teams to estimate bed occupancies and the necessary departmental staffing requirements.

The trust is now preparing for HMISS validations for its electronic medical record adoption model (EMRAM) and its infrastructure adoption model (INFRAM), which are both due to happen in 2024.

In April 2023, a research project linked digitally mature hospitals with a better safety performance. The project combined data from HIMSS on hospitals’ digital maturity, and patient safety ratings data from Leapfrog Group.