Capturing data to improve patient flow and distancing

Alan Dunlop, an Associate and Project manager at Arup, explains how a team from the global engineering consultancy used digital modelling to model and test different capacity scenarios for London’s Whittington Health NHS Trust (Whittington) associated with distancing requirements as the Trust planned for winter. A key goal was to anticipate, and plan to avoid, overcrowding of the Trust’s Emergency Department waiting rooms.

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the planning and management of healthcare spaces – always key to smooth operations – became critical to increasing public confidence and safety in attending hospital. Fully understanding the function and interconnectivity that different spaces provide, and the implications for increasing personal space, enables hospital leadership teams to make informed, evidence-based decisions. Reconsidering how to use the available space can help answer pressing questions like:

We propose a digital solution to address these questions and better inform planning for social distancing. Hospital estates hold significant quantities of patient data, such as patient attendances at Emergency Departments, time taken to be seen by a clinician, and treatment and waiting times. However, such data is usually stored across separate spreadsheets and databases. Leveraging digital tools, we enable estates managers to understand this disparate data by modelling it in an easy-to-understand visual form. Simple to engage with and interrogate, a model can be used to review the impact of changes through scenario testing, and to discuss long-term resilience for future high demand