When Nuffield Health noticed that some COVID-19 patients were experiencing symptoms after clinicians expected the disease to subside, the United Kingdom’s largest healthcare charity jumped into action. Leaders mobilized their 37 hospitals and 114 fitness and well-being centers to help people with long COVID rehabilitate, when and wherever worked best for them. That extra level of support proved to be a crucial shot in the arm.
This is far from the only way Nuffield Health strives to offer a unique connected healthcare experience and addressing unmet needs. As patients and care teams further use data to accomplish these goals, Nuffield Health is building out a digital front door — the experiences through which people virtually encounter the organization — to maximize the benefit.
“We strongly believe that the digital front door drives our public benefit through the enablement of data ownership and the creation of citizen data scientists — data scientists in our ecosystem and beyond,” says Wouter Van den Brande, Operations Development and Effectiveness Director, Nuffield Health.
The 60-plus-year-old organization’s digital front door already served 1.25 million patients in the first year, and its leadership team plans to double that number. Here’s how Nuffield Health is leveraging InterSystems technology to build a digital front door that advances patient-centered care, shared decision making, and evidence-based agility.
1. Prioritize Outcomes
Across all its work, Nuffield Health gathers and analyzes data on clinical, design, and operational outcomes. Each pathway through its digital front door includes clear outcomes frameworks to support clinician and patient interfaces.
At Nuffield, every patient has access to their personal data — and it’s available to their care teams precisely when they need it. Gathered from prevention through follow-up, the data is geared toward shared decision making that benefits health and quality of life.
2. Strengthen Safety
Nuffield Health analyzes data to improve its monitoring and measurement activities. The goal is to reduce harm and increase loyalty among patients, by enabling leaders to monitor the work of senior physicians, who operate as third parties at Nuffield Health facilities. It’s vital for these doctors to maintain high safety standards — and the data ensures they do.
3. Enhance User Experience
Data lies at the heart of Nuffield’s connected journey for patients. The right UX design helps the charity attract and retain patients and staff by simplifying their interactions.
“The user experience means everything,” Van den Brande says. “If it’s a good user experience and the collection of the data is better, then the quality of the data is better, and therefore the outcome and the analysis of the data will become unparalleled.”
As time goes on, Nuffield Health plans to refine its digital front door so that everyone who passes through leaves feeling that the interaction was easy. Isn’t that what every healthcare organization should strive for?