A national theatre scheduling tool is set to be rolled out across NHS Scotland after research found it could improve operational efficiency by up to 25% and cut hospital waiting times, the Scottish Government has announced.
The platform, developed by Infix, was piloted across three health boards and helped to reduce administrative burden, remove paper processes, and enhance productivity during the creation and approval of theatre lists.
For example, a study from Health Improvement Scotland investigated the innovation’s efficacy at NHS Lothian, with researchers concluding that, within ophthalmology, throughput of patients per session increased from four to five (26%) and throughput per hour increased by 25%.
This is in addition to cost savings, which were estimated to be around seven percent – the equivalent of £1.8m per year. The technology will now be rolled out across NHS boards in Scotland over the next year.
“Better use of data and digital technology is critical to how we drive improvements in healthcare and is a key part of our plans to reform services,” said Scotland’s health secretary, Neil Gray.
He added: “This technology is backed by more than five years’ worth of NHS operating times data and is just one of the initiatives that will help enable us to schedule 1.5 million procedures per year – while improving data quality to help safely increase productivity.
“This will help maximise capacity, build greater resilience and reduce waiting lists.”
The Scottish Government says the contract was awarded to Infix following a competitive procurement process and forms part of the ongoing ambition to embrace technology in line with the Digital Health and Care Strategy, which was updated earlier this month.
“This is a shining example of how we are embracing cutting edge tools to tackle the challenges facing health and social care,” concluded the health secretary.
Neil Gray will further outline the role technology will play in the future of Scotland’s health service in a speech in Edinburgh later today.
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