NHS
Modelling strategies to reduce the elective backlog in hip surgery
This project used Discrete Event Simulation to model the hip surgery patient pathway in Exeter to understand the potential impact of various strategies to reduce the backlog…
• Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust
Developing a generic vaccination service model for the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond
In winter 2020, vaccinations had recently been approved for use in the UK to protect people against the COVID-19 virus. Consequently, a mass vaccination programme was…
Exploring the use of Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing to teach a machine to predict whether a patient is likely to be imminently admitted to hospital based on GP data and clues in GP notes
This exploratory project explored the use of Natural Language Processing methods to automate the extraction of key information from free-text patient notes in order to…
• Peninsula Dental School
• Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation
Simulation modelling to test proposed models of pediatric critical care in South West England
This project used a combination of Discrete Event Simulation and Geographic Modelling approaches to determine where Level 2 Pediatric Critical Care Units should be located…
The Effect of Booked Appointments on Waiting Times at Urgent Treatment Centres
The aim of the project was to examine in more detail the question of whether booked appointment times might reduce waiting times in Urgent Treatment Centres (UTC). This was…
South East Regional Covid 19 Vaccination Demand & Capacity Modelling
The aim of the project was to create an easy to use model for predicting demand and capacity for Covid vaccinations.
• Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Trust
Use of Discrete Event Simulation to Tackle Long Waits and a Growing Backlog for Children Requiring Neuro Development Assessment (Autism and ADHD)
The aim of the project was to understand the current pathway to assessment of Autism and ADHD in children, identifying any bottlenecks. We wanted to know what change needed…
Using DES to Improve Flow through an Acute Medicine Assessment Pathway
Nottingham University Hosptials has two major Acute Medicine Assessment areas (WB3 and AMRA), where patients can be reviewed before being sent to the most appropriate…
• Sandwell and Birmingham NHS Trust
Discrete Event Simulation of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Pathway in an IAPT Service
The aim of the project was to use Discrete Event Simulation (DES) to model the current wait list for High Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (HI-CBT). The team wanted…
• NHS Dorset
Use Of Discrete Event Simulation (DES) to reduce delays in Cancer Diagnosis & Treatment
The project aim was to develop a Discrete Event Simulation (DES) model based on Colorectal Cancer pathway at Gloucester Royal Hospital to identify the key delays within the…
• University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust
• Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust
Discrete Event Simulation to Improve Flow and Performance in the Urgent Treatment Centre
The primary aim of the project was to improve Urgent Treatment Care (UTC) performance by developing a model which would help the Emergency Department (ED) team with the…
Forecasting Demand and Length of Stay in the Emergency Department
The project aimed to use forecasting and machine learning methods to predict the length of stay and arrivals to the Emergency Department (ED) at different times of day, days…
Meeting the demand of 111 for primary care services
This was an attempt to model the impact of enforcing timely primary care interventions when 111 calls are undertaken.
• Devon CCG
• University of Plymouth
Using Machine Learning to Predict Hospital Admissions and Length of Stay for Respiratory Conditions
The aim of the project was to use available Primary and Secondary Care patient history and demographic information to better predict the chance of admission for respiratory…
The role of Patient Initiated Follow-up (PIFU) and ‘Digital Outpatients’ in Supporting the Elective Recovery - Can We Better Size Potential for Clearing the Backlog?
The aim of the project is to find out what role Patient Initiated Follow-up (PIFU) can play in the redeployment of capacity to address the backlog. This will be done by…
Predicting Non-Elective Admissions
The project aim was to develop a predictive model to identify patients at high risk of admission and to provide explanatory feedback as to why the patients were at risk.…
• NHS North East London CSU
Predicting Violent Incidents on Mental Health Inpatient Units
The aim of the project was to see if the occurrence of violent incidents on hospital wards could be reduced, if incidents could be pre-empted and interventions could be…
Reducing Travel Times to Treatment for Cardiac Patients in the South East of England
The aim of the project was to employ geographical and statistical analysis of past and present travel times to understand the impact the flow of activity into London has on…
• NHS England and Improvement
• The Strategy Unit
Developing a Service Planning Decision Support Tool to Tackle Inequalities and Minimise Carbon Output
There are three current significant health agendas to which this project broadly relates.
• Torbay Council
• West Sussex County Council
Using Discrete Event Simulation to model the bottlenecks in the Acute Medical Unit pathway
In this project, a computer simulation of the acute medical pathway in a Devon trust was created, along with an interactive tool allowing parameters such as the staffing levels to be changed. This allowed staff to explore the optimum levels of resourcing, enabling risk-free testing of staffing and resource changes before committing to these changes in the real-world.
Modelling the effect of complex discharge delays on acute performance
Hospitals across the country are struggling to provide patients with the care they need in a timely manner. Increasing waiting times in A&E departments, long waits for…
Discrete Event Simulation to model elective surgery pathways
The aim of the project was to create a Discrete Event Simulation in SimPy to model elective surgery pathways, which could be used to model changes to a pathway and their…
Using Machine Learning to estimate inequities in access to hospital procedures
The aim of this project was to determine on an ICB, LTLA and UTLA the overall level of disparity in accessing planned appointments in hospital. The team did this for each…
Network Analysis of diagnostic procedures in A&E setting
In A&E a patient can be given one or more diagnostic procedures. These can be as simple as the various blood test or more complicated procedures like an MRI test. The aim of…
Creating a tool to automatically generate health equity audits for Community Diagnostic Centres
Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) have been launched across England to tackle the diagnostic backlog and address healthcare inequalities. CDCs and commissioners struggle…
• Reading Borough Council
Forecasting Demand – Investigating approaches to forecast clock starts
Within the organisation (NHS England) forecasting for clock starts is currently done using scenario-based modelling in Excel. This limits how much data can be used to make…
• NHS North of England Commissioning Support Unit
Investigating factors impacting NHS workforce retention
This project aimed to work out which factors are the biggest drivers of staff turnover using regression modelling on staff workforce figures as well as other local factors such as employment. This was turned into a dashboard for internal use. However, it was concluded that the currently available data only acccounted for 13% of the variation in turnover seen; more data on other factors is required to explain the patterns seen.
• Yorkshire Ambulance Service
A Discrete Event Simulation Model to reduce Rheumatology waiting times in Dorset
The current Referral to Treatment waiting list is at its highest level in NHS history. Identifying methods for reducing the waiting list and waiting times would benefit…
• BCP Council
Developing a tool to assess inequalities and demographic coverage of service locations
This project hopes to empower NHS service providers with a tool that grants a deeper understanding of the population they serve and allows them to direct future service…
• Wessex AHSN
• Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
Forecasting NHS planning and performance metrics
The ICB leads on development of Operational Planning submissions to NHS England on an annual basis. This involves development trajectories against various activity and…
Police
What are they saying about us? An AI tool to determine the sentiment of tweets to police forces across the country, and what people are talking about
This project used AI-based Natural Language Processing methods to develop a dashboard that predicts the sentiment (positive or negative) of every tweet to every police force…
Generating a richer understanding of relationships in crime data in order to identify opportunities to safeguard individuals and families
This project used Network Analysis methods to identify the social relationships between groups of people who could be causing significant issues within their communities…
Spatial Modelling of Violent Crime to Support Strategic Analysis
The aim of this project was to use various crime data variables and spatial analysis to turn them into useful insights for inclusion in assessed intelligence reporting.
• Devon and Cornwall Police
• Devon County Council
Using Natural Language Processing to detect drug related content within free text
Since the amount of data being collected and stored has increased significantly, datasets are often reviewed manually, particularly when free text fields are present. This…
• Derbyshire Police
• Greater Manchester Police
Using Agent Based Simulation to understand criminal adoption of new technologies
I work in a field that researches the use of technology by criminals. Often, we want to understand how the use and behaviours for a new technology might develop, or have…
Mapping health inequalities, depreviation, ethnicities and crime across the UK
The aim of the project is to use ONS data around ethnicities of population, health index England, Deprivation data from QOF, and overlay the same with crime statistics at a…
Council
Identifying unpaid carers in Norfolk
There are thousands of unpaid carers. Among many other risks, unpaid carers are likely to experience poor mental health, loneliness and isolation. Supporting the mental and…
Predictive modelling for smoking cessation success
Smoking is a leading cause of preventable diseases and deaths worldwide. Despite numerous public health campaigns and interventions, smoking cessation remains a significant…