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You'd have thought they already had something that does this?

by m0xte 7y ago

IceCreamGondola 7y ago
The NHS is notorious for having little to no connected IT systems. It's not that the data doesn't exist but it's so siloed that even within Health Boards it is hard to access.
- tonyedgecombe 7y ago
  I think this is probably a good thing. We have already seen one massive attempt at centralising their IT systems fail at huge cost.
  - IceCreamGondola 7y ago
    NHS certainly don't need a central IT system but there are massive gains to be made inside health boards. My wife works in the NHS and the fragmented nature of a lot of the data makes their work incredibly inefficient.
chrisa 7y ago
I worked for a startup that tracked hospital equipment (with active RFID tags), and it was shocking how disorganized hospitals can be. It's not usually a single person or department's fault though - there are a bunch of factors: - equipment is often managed by a small team who doesn't have the resources to really track down everything - equipment gets distributed to different departments who then might move it, store it, swap it, it breaks down and they don't tell anyone, etc - theft can be a big issue: equipment is often very expensive and not very large, which means it has the ability to "walk off" - different departments (or individuals) might hoard equipment because it can be difficult to get what you need exactly when you need it - data about what you have can be split across 15 different systems that don't have the ability to talk or reconcile - "full" real time tracking (like what we made) can be very expensive So yes - there are systems that can help, but they're expensive and often not a first priority (even though they can help tremendously, especially when it comes time to do maintenance and reordering, etc.)
- _trampeltier 7y ago
  And now they don't swap the gear because of this magical software from Palentier? Equipment does now not walk away?
  - chrisa 7y ago
    Well - that software will hopefully solve the problem of data being spread across 15 different systems (although to some extent, now you've just added another system in the mix :) ) To start solving the problem of equipment being swapped or walking off, that's when you need to look at an active RFID or other real time tracking solution.

You'd have thought they already had something that does this?

by m0xte 7y ago

You'd have thought they already had something that does this?

The NHS is notorious for having little to no connected IT systems. It's not that the data doesn't exist but it's so siloed that even within Health Boards it is hard to access.

tonyedgecombe 7y ago
I think this is probably a good thing. We have already seen one massive attempt at centralising their IT systems fail at huge cost.
- IceCreamGondola 7y ago
  NHS certainly don't need a central IT system but there are massive gains to be made inside health boards. My wife works in the NHS and the fragmented nature of a lot of the data makes their work incredibly inefficient.

chrisa 7y ago

I worked for a startup that tracked hospital equipment (with active RFID tags), and it was shocking how disorganized hospitals can be. It's not usually a single person or department's fault though - there are a bunch of factors: - equipment is often managed by a small team who doesn't have the resources to really track down everything - equipment gets distributed to different departments who then might move it, store it, swap it, it breaks down and they don't tell anyone, etc - theft can be a big issue: equipment is often very expensive and not very large, which means it has the ability to "walk off" - different departments (or individuals) might hoard equipment because it can be difficult to get what you need exactly when you need it - data about what you have can be split across 15 different systems that don't have the ability to talk or reconcile - "full" real time tracking (like what we made) can be very expensive So yes - there are systems that can help, but they're expensive and often not a first priority (even though they can help tremendously, especially when it comes time to do maintenance and reordering, etc.)

_trampeltier 7y ago
And now they don't swap the gear because of this magical software from Palentier? Equipment does now not walk away?
- chrisa 7y ago
  Well - that software will hopefully solve the problem of data being spread across 15 different systems (although to some extent, now you've just added another system in the mix :) ) To start solving the problem of equipment being swapped or walking off, that's when you need to look at an active RFID or other real time tracking solution.