Value in Healthcare Awards: Value and Improvement in Patient Information Management

Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals Foundation Trust: Mortality and Activity Review System (MARS)

The judges said the fact that reviews were 100 per cent consultant led was a significant achievement, adding that the tool adds to our understanding of mortality.

In 2014 Basildon Hospital was named as one of 14 trusts with a persistently high mortality rate. For the trust to fully address these concerns it had to increase clinical engagement to improve the quality of patient data and learn quickly from the outcomes of mortality reviews.

MARS was developed by the BTUH Information Department as an in-house tool to help give clinicians better access to their mortality and activity data, which in turn would enable them to raise queries regarding coding, data quality and consultant/patient assignment on EPR from one system.

In addition, it would enable the collection and centralisation of mortality reviews data as well as to support shared learning from mortality reviews across the trust. MARS also has a peer-review function that enables all deaths to be peer reviewed once the consultant review is completed.

The tool would help identify avoidable deaths and to identify areas where care provision could have been better. This in turn will support better analysis and shared learning. Benefits included:

• Improved clinician engagement with EPR data as well as with the coding and EPR teams
• Increased sense of ownership of EPR data by clinicians
• Better identification of areas where care provision could have been of higher quality
• Enhanced learning from within the organisation as a result of sharing of experiences from mortality and activity reviews
• Better and more accurate identification and tracking of avoidable deaths

The tool has enabled consultants to do more timely reviews of deaths as a result of the function of MARS which flags up reviews that are almost due. It has also enabled them to be able to challenge coding of patient deaths, leading to more accurate coding.

• See all the winners of the Value in Healthcare Awards 2014
• See the full list of award judges

Finalists

• East Lancashire Hospitals Trust and Hospedia: Identify and support screening of patients with possible dementia following admission to hospital - highly commended
• Bristol Community Health in partnership with TotalMobile: Releasing time to care through mobile working   
• Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust: Care4Today heart health solutions
• Connecting Care Partnership: Connecting care pilot        
• Mersey Care Trust: Clinical framework for Forensic Social Care       
• Portsmouth Hospitals Trust and Newton Europe: Improved length of stay leads to £3m in annual savings
• The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals Trust and Newton Europe: Paperwork reduction and workforce allocation saves thousands of nursing hours annually