A perspective from Paul Johnson, CEO and Co-Founder of Radar Healthcare

The NHS is in need of a transformation. At the moment we’re seeing rising demand, escalating costs, workforce constraints, as well as widening health inequalities, all of which create gaps in patient safety across the board. But in order to create better in a way that feels sustainable and truly patient-centered, we need to evolve beyond just reactive care. What the NHS and its patients need now is a new model rooted in prevention, early intervention, and proactive care, with data systems that don’t just describe the past, but shape the future.  

The true cost of reactive data usage

So how is this current approach to data affecting those on the front line of healthcare delivery? In real terms this means fragmented information, lagging insights, and limited visibility across departments and services. Issues are only flagged once something has already gone wrong, an incident has happened, a complaint has been made, or a target has been missed. With a reactive model like this, even when an intervention does happen, the benefit is only felt by future cases. But for the patients that experience the incidents needed to flag these issues, the safety of their care has already been compromised. This is the true cost of systems that only use data to analyse what has happened, rather than understand what’s coming.

We don’t need more data. Just more clarity.

This isn’t because we don’t have the data. In fact, quite the opposite. NHS Trusts are overwhelmed with data. Incident reports, audit results, patient feedback, staffing levels, outcomes data, and inspection findings. There’s plenty of it. But as it stands, all of this data only serves to bring extra layers of complexity to an already crowded picture.

So if the issue isn’t needing more data, the solution is simply looking at what’s already there from a different angle. Presenting insights that create a clear story that’s timely, intelligent, and actionable.

This is the next step in the data evolution of our industry; using the wealth of data we already have to focus on prevention rather than reaction. Helping teams to anticipate harm, and make the best possible decisions for their patients. In other words, they need systems that reveal patterns, highlight risks, and prompt the right people to take the right action at the right time.

But to do this, you need a system that does more than just record incidents. You need a platform that connects what’s happening on the ground with a bigger picture. For example, if medication errors increase after a rota change, or falls begin to cluster in a particular ward or at a certain time, organisations need to quickly understand that these aren’t just isolated events, they’re emerging patterns in their patient safety. They need to be spotted in real time, and acted on quickly.

Culture change at every level of organisations

This kind of living, breathing insight brings a wealth of positive change to every level of Trust and organisation structure. From the top, we see leaders, board members and executives begin to have real confidence in their data, with the knowledge that they are making informed changes that will benefit their patients. With our system, they know that risk isn’t just monitored, it’s managed.

We also see front line teams start to feel truly empowered in their role. They have visible proof that their input and concerns are being actioned across their organisation, with the added ability to understand issues before they escalate. Not only does this empowerment grow their trust with their organisation, but also improves the safety of the service they deliver to patients.

And most importantly, patients are given more opportunities to share their experiences, and shape their own care. They feel the benefits of a care approach that isn’t reactive, but responsive and thoughtful, with their needs at the heart of it. We know this from simple and accessible patient feedback capture forms, allowing for both qualitative and quantitative patient data to be collated and quickly analysed.

What now? Where do we go from here?

The future of health and social care needs a new focus; data that is easily displayed and interpreted, with the ability to track, monitor, and demonstrate improvements, as well as flag up risk. By adopting this change in focus, Trusts and care providers can enjoy greater flexibility in how they think, and the culture of their organisation, and therefore in how they work, and the level of care they can give their patients.

This is a system we’ve already brought to 17,000 locations, with 160,000 active users every month. This is how we know that this shift in approach from reactive to preventative is transformational; because we hear it from our partners every day.

It’s a core belief at Radar Healthcare that data isn’t just a dusty back-office function. It’s the front line of safer care. From the organisations we partner with, we see the level of organisational transformation that’s possible when insight is treated as a driver of change, not just a record of history.

To NHS Trust leaders, you already have the data. The opportunity now is using it, connecting it, activating it, and translating it into real-time impact. That’s exactly what Radar Healthcare are here to do.