The all-Wales roll-out of Medilogik EMS unlocks a vision to improve data quality and drive improvements across the endoscopy pathway
NHS Wales Performance and Improvement was set up to provide strategic direction, leadership and support to local health boards. One of its areas of focus is the National Endoscopy Programme, which has a programme of work committed to continuous improvement.
The programme has supported health boards’ adoption of the full functionality of the Medilogik endoscopy management system, and to use the same version of Medilogik EMS. In May, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board joined the other boards in adopting Medilogik, putting Wales in a unique position within the UK.
“We are the first nation in the UK to have all endoscopy units using one, endoscopy reporting system,” says Phedra Dodds, National Endoscopy Programme Lead. “That means we have a full reliable national feed from the National Endoscopy Database, which means we have lots of detail about what is happening in endoscopy rooms and services across the nation.”
The programme has set up regular meetings with Medilogik, endoscopy unit leads, and clinical staff, to address common challenges. The first project was a data challenge: making sure that patient cancellation reasons were harmonised, consistent and therefore variation could be identified.
When Medilogik pulled the data from health boards across Wales, it found that more than 100 hospital and patient cancellation reasons were being recorded; and endoscopy staff could still put ‘other.’ The group was able to agree a list of just 20 ‘cancellation reasons’; and to remove ‘other.’
“We met as health boards and said: ‘what are you doing’ and: ‘what is the rationale for that’ and ‘what do we need to keep, and what do we need to change’,” says Programme Manager Matthew Evans.
“Now, we have a once for Wales approach that means we can benchmark performance and learn from each other.”
Matthew Evans, Programme Manager
Thanks to the completion of the national roll-out of Medilogik EMS, the changes have been implemented quickly. The programme didn’t need to negotiate with multiple suppliers; health boards could simply update the cancellation reasons in their system.
The National Endoscopy Programme has many ideas for getting the most out of its national deployment of Medilogik EMS. Some of these relate to aspects of data, productivity measures and functionality across the entire patient pathway. But the bigger vision is to look beyond Medilogik EMS’ reporting capabilities, and to work out how this can also generate data needed to support services better.
Kelly Milford, Sister Manager of the Endoscopy Ward at Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr, is particularly enthusiastic about pre-assessment being incorporated into the system, as this would support work the National Endoscopy Programme is already doing to find out why patients ‘did not attend’ and what can be done to make sure they do turn up for appointments.
“Medilogik EMS is amazing for delivering care – all the nurses love it because it is so easy to use,” Kelly says. “But we don’t have the whole pathway and we don’t have audit.”
“Getting the whole pathway into the one system would be amazing.”
Kelly Milford, Sister Manager of the Endoscopy Ward, Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr
Wales is just at the start of its long-term partnership with Medilogik. “It is a two-way street,” Phedra says. “They release things we need to look at, there are things that we want for Wales. The big thing for us is productivity.
“We know a lot about what is happening in endoscopy rooms, but not so much about what is happening outside them; how waiting lists are being managed, or whether the 85% utilisation target is being hit. Ultimately, we want everybody involved in the endoscopy process to be on the same system, so there are no add-ons and we have that kind of actionable data.
“We appreciate that doing everything we want to do will take time; but we’re confident we will get where we want to be in the end.”
“We know that Medilogik is as ambitious as we are.”
Phedra Dodds, National Endoscopy Programme Lead
David Simpson, product owner at Medilogik, agrees. “Wales is a small nation. It is the same size as many English regions. But it is showing English regions what can be achieved when endoscopy services come together and use technology to drive the change they want to see for their units, staff and patients,” he said.
“Wales is pushing us hard, but we are up for the challenge. Medilogik EMS is known for its clinical and reporting abilities, but we want to support the ambitions of our specialty, working in partnership with our customers.”
