British Journal of Healthcare Management
Latest Publications


TOTAL DOCUMENTS

2987
(FIVE YEARS 326)

H-INDEX

12
(FIVE YEARS 3)

Published By Mark Allen Group

1759-7382, 1358-0574

Author(s):  
Bryan McIntosh ◽  
Bruce Sheppy ◽  
Francesco Moscone ◽  
Andreia Areal

As the UK rebuilds and recovers after the COVID-19 pandemic, tackling socioeconomic inequalities will become increasingly pertinent. The link between health and wealth has been long established, with those at the highest risk of illness also being less likely to access healthcare. The pandemic has highlighted these disparities, with higher morbidity and mortality rates seen in deprived areas, as well as among ethnic minority communities. Leaders and clinicians across the NHS and social care have called for a ‘reset’ in the way healthcare is planned, commissioned and delivered in the UK. There is a growing need for a holistic approach to disease prevention, and it is crucial that government agencies take a strong role in addressing the wider determinants of health.


2022 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-6
Author(s):  
Zia Sherrell

Zia Sherrell considers the potential benefits of artificial intelligence to healthcare following the creation of the NHSX AI in Health and Care Award.


2022 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-46
Author(s):  
Jaideep J Pandit

NHS clinical directors are responsible for balancing departmental budgets, which can encompass staffing, equipment and operating theatres. As trust income is generally fixed, expenditure reduction is often attempted via recurrent cost improvement plans. In orthodox monetary theory, a departmental deficit contributes first to the hospital, then to the NHS, then to the national deficit. In the orthodox view, governments in deficit need to increase taxes and/or borrow money by issuing bonds (akin to mortgage loans), the interest on which is paid off for generations. Modern monetary theory offers a different perspective: government deficits do not matter as much as orthodox theory claims, if at all. This is because governments have the monopoly right to create the money in which the deficit is denominated (so do not ever need to borrow something that they can create). Therefore governments cannot default on debt in their own currency. Furthermore, government deficits equate to private surplus. This new perspective should influence microeconomic budget management at the clinical director level: the new emphasis being to deliver value and not just implement local savings to eliminate departmental deficits. This approach will become increasingly important in managing the huge surgical waiting lists that have accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic.


2022 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-51
Author(s):  
Candace Mannarino ◽  
Andrew D Prigge ◽  
John Sarmiento ◽  
Marcelo Malakooti

Background/Aims Procedures performed in the paediatric intensive care unit require optimal efficiency. This study evaluated the feasibility of a mobile app for paediatric critical care trainees to help improve the efficiency of three common procedures: central line placement, arterial line insertion and chest tube insertion. Methods Data regarding frequency of forgotten items were collected during the pre-intervention stage. A mobile app was developed with a checklist to help users to gather all the correct equipment. Data regarding the number of forgotten items were collected from the app in the period following initial implementation (March–August 2019) and after a software update (August–October 2019). Results Once the mobile application was introduced, all 13 (100%) fellows and 2 (20%) of the 10 advanced practice registered nurses accessed the application's checklist to record their procedures. From March–August 2019, 19 users submitted post-completion assessments, of which four included records of forgotten items (21%). After a software update, from August–October 2019, there were eight post-procedure assessments submitted with zero forgotten items. After using the mobile application, over half (13/24) of users surveyed agreed that the mobile application was useful for helping select items. Conclusions A considerable decrease in the proportion of procedures with forgotten items was recorded after the implementation of the app and after the software update. However, there was also a decrease in use of the app during the study period, so more research is required into the use of mobile apps for this purpose.


2022 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-20
Author(s):  
Simon Morris ◽  
Tanvi Agarwal ◽  
Daniel Leopard ◽  
Rhodri Costello ◽  
Steven Backhouse

Background/Aims Ear, nose and throat services have seen one of the greatest increases in service demand over the last 6 years. This study aimed to determine if a virtual clinic system could reduce the volume of patients who need to be seen in person in an ear, nose and throat outpatient clinic. Methods Clinical outcome data for one consultant's team in a single ear, nose and throat department between 2009–19 were analysed. Data were prospectively collected on all patients who used the virtual clinic in this 10-year period and the outcomes analysed. Results A total of 3071 patients entered the virtual clinic during the 10-year period. Of these, 61% were discharged from the clinic via virtual follow-up and 39% required an in-person review appointment. On average, 187 patients per year did not have to attend an in-person follow-up appointment, with estimated cost savings of £27 000 per year. Conclusions The virtual ear, nose and throat clinic service has clear benefits for patients and services, delivering healthcare without unnecessary in-person appointments through a shared, clinician–patient decision process.


2022 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-25
Author(s):  
Mark Sammut ◽  
Matthew Sammut ◽  
Daniel M Chircop ◽  
Kurt-Lee Chircop ◽  
Craig Muscat ◽  
...  

Background/Aims Before the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine was not widely used in surgical departments. Despite its increased use during the pandemic, there is a lack of data on the patient perspective. This study investigated patients' views of telemedicine in a surgical outpatients clinic setting. Method A single-centre cross-sectional study was performed, involving patients who were due to attend the surgical outpatients clinic of one surgical team. Independent investigators contacted the patients by telephone after their virtual telephone consultation to administer the questionnaire. Patient satisfaction rates were recorded using the PSQ-18 questionnaire. Patient consultation preferences were recorded and analysed. Results A total of 223 patients participated in this study. The majority of patients' perceptions shifted in favour of virtual consultations after the onset of the pandemic (P<0.05). Sub-group analysis showed no significant differences between the preferences of older and younger patients before or after the onset of the pandemic. Overall, patients reported high satisfaction rates with their virtual consultations. Conclusions Patient perceptions are changing in favour of virtual telemedicine consultations. Training healthcare providers in this method of service delivery is essential to maintain a good quality of care.


2022 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-29
Author(s):  
Lucy Williamson

Lucy Williamson discusses the issues that often lie behind non-compliance with infection prevention strategies among healthcare staff, and how managers can improve compliance by facilitating cultural change.


2022 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-36
Author(s):  
Matthias Zuchowski ◽  
Aydan Göller

Background/Aims Medical documentation is an important and unavoidable part of a health professional's working day. However, the time required for medical documentation is often viewed negatively, particularly by clinicians with heavy workloads. Digital speech recognition has become more prevalent and is being used to optimise working time. This study evaluated the time and cost savings associated with speech recognition technology, and its potential for improving healthcare processes. Methods Clinicians were directly observed while completing medical documentation. A total of 313 samples were collected, of which 163 used speech recognition and 150 used typing methods. The time taken to complete the medical form, the error rate and error correction time were recorded. A survey was also completed by 31 clinicians to gauge their level of acceptance of speech recognition software for medical documentation. Two-sample t-tests and Mann–Whitney U tests were performed to determine statistical trends and significance. Results On average, medical documentation using speech recognition software took just 5.11 minutes to complete the form, compared to 8.9 minutes typing, representing significant time savings. The error rate was also found to be lower for speech recognition software. However, 55% of clinicians surveyed stated that they would prefer to type their notes rather than use speech recognition software and perceived the error rate of this software to be higher than typing. Conclusions The results showed that there are both temporal and financial advantages of speech recognition technology over text input for medical documentation. However, this technology had low levels of acceptance among staff, which could have implications for the uptake of this method.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (12) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Isobel Clough

Land should be one of the greatest assets of the UK healthcare system, as a result of its large estates portfolio. Howere, the current state of many of the NHS's buildings means that physical spaces are often more of a burden, with maintenance backlogs costing billions. However, as a resource-limited public institution, it is crucial that all investments into NHS infrastructure are as effective and future-proof as possible. The previous two articles in this series have focused on the potential benefits of modular facilities to healthcare staff, services and patients, drawing on case studies of NHS trusts that have implemented modular facilities on their sites. This article, the third and final instalment of this series, discusses the health economic impact of current NHS infrastructure, and explores the ways in which modular facilities could provide a flexible and cost-effective means of expanding capacity and improving services in a resource-limited environment.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document