New NHS early warning system for long-term conditions
pharmafile | September 2, 2005 | News story | |Â Â Â
A new computer program will give NHS clinicians an early warning about patients at risk of being admitted to hospital.
The software uses a wide range of patient information, including the age of the patient, type of illness and recent contacts with the NHS, with established danger signals flagged up for priority attention from care teams.
National clinical director for primary care Professor David Colin-Thome said: "There are millions of people around the country who are coping with one or more long-term conditions. The vast majority receive excellent care from the NHS. But we know that there are a minority whose conditions can sometimes go unmonitored and unmanaged until a hospital visit becomes necessary."
The computer program has been developed for the Department of Health by the King's Fund in collaboration with researchers at New York University and Health Dialog, a care management company specialising in analytics and chronic disease management.
The project was commissioned by Essex Strategic Health Authority, acting as lead commissioner for the 28 SHAs, Department of Health and NHS Modernisation Agency.
The initiative is part of a wider drive in the NHS to minimise the number of patients admitted to hospital unnecessarily, underpinned by a new focus on better management of long-term conditions in the community.






