New resource launched to help primary care providers cut costs and improve patient care

People being repeatedly admitted to hospital via A&E account for more than a million emergency admissions every year, according to a new report published today by Dr Foster Intelligence - an innovative new joint venture between the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) and Dr Foster.

In response to these findings Dr Foster Intelligence is launching a new web-based resource - High-impact User Manager (HUM) - which identifies patients who have been repeatedly admitted to hospital. HUM shows the costs associated to those admissions and calculates the risk that they will generate further emergency admissions.  High-impact users are defined as those who are likely to be admitted to hospital at least three times in a year.

HUM predicts the likelihood of further emergency admissions for the same person in the following 12 months by analysing historic admissions together with information on factors such as age, sex and level of deprivation.

Example

Milton Keynes PCT was one of the first to introduce Community Matrons in 2004.  Diane Gray, Consultant in Public Health Medicine says: “What we have shown is that there are a group of people, especially older people with conditions such as COPD and diabetes, who do go in and out of hospital far too often and that it is possible to be proactive about working with those people to help them stay healthy and at home. For the first time we have highlighted the extent of the problem, as well as how much it is costing the local NHS. 

“Some of the key challenges at first included identifying patients who most needed support and building relationships with GPs. Initially, matrons spent several weeks trawling through records before they could target the right individuals. The analytical tools which are now available to help predict those most at risk make a big difference and the matrons have learnt on the job and are now sharing their expertise.”

Repeat emergency admissions not only cause significant stress and anxiety for the individual who is hospitalised, but also cost the NHS £2.3 billion a year which could rise by 40 per cent over twenty years as a result of the ageing population, according to the research.

Professor Sir Brian Jarman, director of the Dr Foster Unit at Imperial College, was involved in the development of the tool.  He said:

“HUM allows PCTs and GPs to easily identify patients who have been high hospital users and to see how likely they are to be a high user in the future. The resource can help primary care providers to spot which conditions are particularly amenable to primary care intervention which means people could be treated in the community without having to endure the stress of unnecessary hospitalisation.”

The findings of the report, Keeping people out of hospital – the challenge of reducing emergency admissions, are consistent with the recent White Paper which promotes the message that a greater proportion of care and treatment should be provided outside hospital and in primary care or community settings.

Notes

1.       Dr Foster Intelligence has produced a tool known as the High-impact User Manager (HUM) which enables PCTs and GPs to identify patients likely to be admitted to hospital as an emergency more than three times a year. The tool uses HES data and an algorithm developed by the Dr Foster Unit at Imperial College London (based on factors such as population, sex and age). Once specific patients have been identified, GPs can then modify their interventions, reducing emergency admissions and delivering better treatment within the community for those at risk

2.       Dr Foster Intelligence is a new joint venture, owned 50:50 by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, and a private company, Dr Foster Holdings LLP.  Dr Foster Intelligence is an independent commercial organisation which will compete to provide management information to health and social care organisations including to the voluntary and private sectors. Its aim is to improve decision making in health and social care. Tim Kelsey, co-founder of Dr Foster Limited is chairman of the management board and Jake Arnold Forster is chief executive

3.       The Health and Social Care Information Centre is a public body constituted as an NHS Special Health Authority with the aim of putting information at the heart of decision making in health and social care. It was established on 1 April 2005 and brought together components of the former NHS Information Authority and Department of Health Statistics Divisio

(14/2/06)