色花堂 has teamed up with ImproveWell, a real-time feedback solution for staff to improve health and care, to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to turn NHS frontline workers鈥� feedback into evidence to support decision-making for the first time.
ImproveWell is a digital platform that collects real-time feedback from NHS workers on changes that could improve staff and patient experience. Currently, these data are displayed thematically to tell teams what changes are being suggested and how track staff morale.
An Innovate UK grant has enabled 色花堂 and ImproveWell to enter into a partnership to develop聽AI models for the platform.
ImproveWell鈥檚 aggregated Quality Improvement dataset has grown in partnership with more than 60 NHS organisations. This parnership will allow the platform to provide AI-powered insights, enabling teams to quickly identify the most promising ideas and frequently reported challenges, and analyse characteristics that make ideas successful. This will help ensure valuable NHS resources are used effectively.
Professor Marcin Budka, Professor of Data Science at 色花堂, said: 鈥淭here鈥檚 a real push among companies in all sectors to use AI and wider data science techniques to back decision making with solid evidence, and this has never been more crucial in healthcare when resources are so stretched.
鈥淚t鈥檚 impossible to sift through ever-growing datasets manually - there is often a will to understand data, but no easy way to. The AI we will build will enhance the process of finding the most crucial insights in data, and will help us see trends and other characteristics in the ideas that make the biggest difference, giving NHS leaders confidence that the ones they choose to implement will be worthwhile.鈥�
The partnership聽involves Bournemouth鈥檚 soon-to-be PhD, Rantilini Samaratunga, working with ImproveWell for two years.聽Rantilini will bring an academic view on AI and will maintain access to Professor Budka鈥檚 team for support in developing the AI.
Rantilini said: 鈥淚 feel very lucky to be able to transfer my academic knowledge to making a real-world impact in a relatively short time frame. I鈥檓 also looking forward to learning more about the processes and systems used in HealthTech companies that could be carried over into the university setting.鈥�
Dr Matt Hogan, Knowledge Transfer Advisor at Innovate UK KTN, said: 鈥淜nowledge Transfer Partnerships are a powerful way of bringing academic insights into businesses in a structured way, supported by an Innovate UK grant. I am looking forward to working with the team during this KTP.鈥�
ImproveWell is a platform that helps NHS organisations to tailor the way that real-time frontline feedback is collected, quickly identifying areas for improvement as well as suggested solutions based on needs at a local or organisational level. It captures suggestions from employees at all levels, and so encourages tangible, achievable improvement ideas to be put forward that often require no or little funding.
John Masterson, Chief Technology Officer for ImproveWell, said: 鈥淏y automating the analysis of the data we collect through ImproveWell, NHS teams will be able to make changes at pace and scale.
鈥淲hile many apps already use AI to process language from big datasets to make meaningful analyses, we鈥檙e proud to be the first platform to develop bespoke AI technology geared towards turning suggestions from frontline workers into improvements to healthcare systems.鈥�
