Improving clinical safety and cost efficiencies: the Walton Centre

The Walton Centre is a leader in the treatment and care of neurology and neurosurgery, but was falling behind on digital and technology.

Following an independent 'Well Led Review', the country’s leading specialist neurology hospital recognised that it needed to address identified shortcomings and under-investment in digital and technology in order to deliver the best possible care for patients.

While it had been quick to try and implement various technologies to improve outcomes, the Walton Centre’s technology estate was highly bespoke and complex, with significant work needed to put it on a safe and sustainable footing.

Public Digital led an independent review of the organisation’s digital maturity, looking at leadership, ways of working, strategy and the existing technology estate.

We conducted a series of confidential interviews with stakeholders from across the organisation, ranging from the Chief Executive through to members of the IT team.

We reviewed the organisation’s technology policies and strategy, and conducted on-site visits to build a clear, evidenced picture of how the digital experience really felt to patients, service users and staff.

We presented our initial observations rapidly to validate their accuracy, and concluded the engagement with a report written for the organisation’s Board. This provided clear recommendations for action to facilitate making decisions based on the evidence we had uncovered.

What we achieved

We delivered recommendations for increasing the organisation’s digital maturity that led to action within weeks, not years.

  1. 1

    Our report identified several areas of potential risk, and where new approaches could improve clinical safety as well as make cost savings.

  2. 2

    We delivered our findings in a way that was simple rather than simplified, giving leaders the clarity and confidence to act upon them.

  3. 3

    We brought deep experience of NHS organisational governance and technology to ensure our findings were appropriate to context.

  4. 4

    We prioritised sensitive handling of relationships and individuals affected by our recommendations, to build support across the organisation.

Chris, Connie and Lou from NHS Providers on site at Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust

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