Artemus helps Surrey GPs hunt patients

Surrey GPs are using a new risk stratification tool aimed at reducing hospital admissions and managing patients at home.

NHS Surrey has commissioned Docobo to supply its new risk stratification tool ArtemusICS.

The tool links patient data from primary and secondary care to identify patients at risk of high use of healthcare resources who may need a specific long term condition intervention.

The data is presented in a dashboard and is accessed via secure web access by authorised staff with a practice.

Data can be examined for a group of patients, such as those in a practice or locality, or by clinical condition.

GPs can see down to patient level where each patient is allocated a ‘risk score’ which predicts their risk of a hospital admission in the next year.

The idea is that GPs can then provide more targeted, personalised care and treat health problems earlier.

The risk scores can be monitored regularly to examine the effectiveness of treatments and interventions.

NHS Surrey associate director of IT programmes Christine Ratcliffe said the tool would help clinicians achieve the best possible outcomes for their patients and to allocate their resources to best effect.

“Docobo has worked with us to develop the tool to meet our requirements, and delivered a quality product that is already making a real difference to GPs,” she said.

Dr Peter Stott, GP lead Medlinc CCG, said that by helping to identify patients at risk of hospital admission, the new tool would give GPs a “clearer understanding of the healthcare needs or our patient population” and keep them at home where possible.