Shrewsbury pilots Neutrino BI

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is piloting a new self-service business intelligence solution from Neutrino Concepts, dubbed the “Google of BI.”

The trust, which became the first in the country to implement Neutrino Information Release Appliance (NIRA) at the beginning of the year, is using it to gather information for 18 week reporting.

The system allows users to enter simple queries. It then finds complex information from multiple systems and displays 25 results graphically on a ‘canvas’ that allows them to conduct more detailed searches.

Nigel Appleton, chief information officer at the trust, said: “We have worked in the very complex area of the 18 week promise to patients, which is a commitment that’s very tricky to keep in place.

“There’s no shortage of data - that’s not my problem - what there is is a shortage of is the people to crunch, process and analyses that data.”

Appleton argued that while it is difficult to determine a return on investment for the business case beyond the pilot, it will save time and resource.

“ROI value is not an easy one to determine, what value do you put on fulfilling a promise to patients? What I can do is put a money value on people that I would need to recruit if the data continues to grow at this speed.”

The software displays four bars, including how many people have breached the 18 week promise, those patients that are yet to be see, whether the data was right and can be validated, and a backlog of patients.

He added: “This is a very ‘Googlesque approach’ but it’s also a forward looking radar in that it’s predictive and analytical.”

Neutrino is using Atos as the primary systems integrator for the software. It is marketing the product across both the public and private sectors, including finance, manufacturing, transport and the police authorities.

Roman McAlindon, founder, of Neutrino Concepts added: “Businesses are driven by information, but all too often business people are not in control of their information.

“IT departments are already overstretched, but they are being inundated with questions to the point where they cannot do their job. Decision making is being hindered by inability to access information in an appropriate timeframe.”

When asked about how the software can improve the way that patient care is delivered, Appleton said: “The one thing that everyone is aiming at is flow. Once we get flow going we will know where patients are in the system at all times.

“If you feel for their plight, you need to distribute care and fulfil patient needs. Trying to do so with a big sheet of paper and [correction fluid] is not going to work.”

Link: Neutrino Concepts