Secondary Care

Bradford Teaching Hospitals Command Centre officially opens

At a launch event today Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has officially opened its new Command Centre.

The Command Centre, using technology from GE Healthcare Partners, went live earlier this year and was recently awarded Tech Project of the Year in the innovative Health Tech Awards 2019.

The Trust said it helps staff to optimise patient flow and allow real-time co-ordination of care for each and every patient. Using advanced analytics and machine learning, the new system provides staff with real-time information to help them make speedy and informed decisions on managing patient flow across the Trust’s hospitals.

Sandra Shannon, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive at the Trust “Demand for services is growing at Bradford Teaching Hospitals every year, with up to 400 patients coming through our A&E every day, and we have to get smarter at how we manage the needs of patients with the resources we have.”

“The Command Centre is a major investment in how we, as a very busy acute Trust, can improve our performance, maintain and improve patients’ experience of coming into hospital and support our staff to do their jobs more efficiently, so they can concentrate on delivering excellent patient care.”

 

Based at Bradford Royal Infirmary, the Trust’s main hospital, the Command Centre co-locates key operational decision-makers and gives them real-time data to enable better, faster decisions so they can take action that will help and support front line staff.

Dr Brad Wilson, Command Centre Medical Director, said the Command Centre will eventually show a complete picture of activity, delays and issues that can be acted on. “We’re looking for every opportunity to improve our services and ultimately transform services, so, a simple thing like bringing different teams together in the Command Centre already cuts down on duplication, saves time and stops people working in isolation.”

“It’s a game-changer as it will help us manage patients more effectively through our hospitals. We have got fantastic, committed staff who come to work to do a good job, and this will help them do this better and help our whole hospitals run effectively, perform better, and improve patients’ experience of being cared for here.”

Jeff Terry, Chief Executive Officer, Clinical Command Centres at GE Healthcare “Bradford Command Centre is already benefitting caregivers and patients. Bradford had the courage to prove the potential of this toolkit in the NHS’s context and in the process create a blueprint for hospitals across Europe to consider and build upon. We’re honoured to serve the Bradford team.”

Bradford’s Command Centre allows the Trust to see a full picture of hospital activity in real-time, so staff can intervene and make changes that directly affect patient care and flow.