Simon Corben, Director and Head of Profession, NHS Estates and Facilities at NHS England & NHS Improvement, has made no secret of the importance that analytical skills will have in the future of efficient healthcare provision.
Now, the Health Foundation has launched a new tool to allow health and care organisations to measure and benchmark their current capability in using data analytics. By answering some key questions about how the organisation uses analytics, participants will be scored on key areas of analytical capability and receive access to case studies and useful resources to improve.
Why bother?
Good quality analysis and the ability to use information effectively are essential elements in any health and care system. Analysis can help shape care for individual patients as well as informing decisions about services or across organisations and health systems.
Action and investment are needed across the system so that the NHS has the right people with the right tools to interpret and create value from its data. As well as the need for analysts with the right skills, there is an important issue around the demand for good analytics amongst senior managers and decision makers.
The Health Foundation's review identified that one of the ways to improve demand for analytics would be for organisations to assess their own analytical capability.
How does it work?
The Analytical Capability Index uses two questionnaires to assess analytical capability through two lenses: the board perspective and the analytics team perspective. The board assessment prompts users to consider how deeply analytics are being used within their organisation and whether or not they are being put to good use. The analytics team assessment will investigate whether the tools the organisation is currently using to support analytics are robust.
The Index is designed for use by a wide range of health and care organisations, including Acute Trusts, Community Trusts, Mental Health Trusts, Ambulance Trusts, CCGs, General Practice and PCNs and Councils.
Click here for more information and to register to complete the assessment.
