Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Trust is an acute hospital in the UK’s fastestgrowing town, providing both in- and out-patient care, accident & emergency, as well as specialist cancer and children’s treatments. “We have over 500 acute beds and have grown from a district general hospital 40 years ago to a teaching hospital,” says Aniruddha Dwarakanath, Head of Information and one of the main leaders of the data modernisation project alongside Hitesh Patel, Associate Director of Performance & Information.

Their department of data analysts and developers ensure that internal stakeholders have the data they need to run the NHS trust and meet clinical demands. The department also has the responsibility to deliver reports on waiting times to NHS England. “Data plays a very important role at the trust, and our senior leadership is very data-focused,” Patel says.

“The world is changing, and there is a need to have data fed to mobile end-user devices so that our colleagues can make use of the data we have as a trust. Before, we were collecting a lot of data, but we were not using it effectively,” Aniruddha Dwarakanath, Head of Information The data analytics applications and infrastructure at Milton Keynes University Hospital had to be updated to meet changing demands from a highly data literate staff and to safely move the trust out of a set of ageing applications and infrastructure.

The modernisation would reduce costs and improve reporting. “The world is changing, and there is a need to have data fed to mobile end-user devices so that our colleagues can make use of the data we have as a trust. Before, we were collecting a lot of data, but we were not using it effectively,” Dwarakanath says of the modern ways of working that have been adopted by clinicians.

In terms of moving Milton Keynes University Hospital away from legacy technologies, Dwarakanath says the Microsoft SQL Server and analytics tools had been in use for 15 years. “The support was being phased out, so there was a need to enhance the data capabilities, especially as the data reporting looked a bit dated.

“There was a degree of risk, as the extended support for Microsoft SQL Server came to an end in July 2019. In addition, moving to the cloud meant we could spread the cost. The cost of remaining with on-premises computing meant there would be a huge initial cost and then this technology would be outdated in three to four years time,” Dwarakanath says; adding that remaining with an on-premise technology stack meant that Milton Keynes University Hospital would struggle to adopt the data technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). “There is an appetite in the organisation to use advanced analytics to benefit the patient outcomes.”

Following the eight sprints completed by Telefónica Tech, Milton Keynes University Hospital has a Microsoft Azure data warehouse architecture that includes Microsoft data lake, data warehouse, Data Bricks, Azure Web Apps and Azure Synapse Analytics services.

This technology is the basis for corporate reports at Milton Keynes University Hospital. Corporate Reports form 80% of the information that Dwarakanath’s team has to deliver to the trust and stakeholders, like NHS England. As a result, Microsoft PowerBI provide reports on A&E arrivals, patient referrals, outpatients appointments, inpatient admissions, RTT waiting times, HR information and more. Dwarakanath says: “PowerBI is a one-stop-shop for all reporting.”

Dwarakanath says greater levels of data are being exposed via Microsoft PowerBI to end-users across the NHS trust and the ability to drill down into that information to an individual patient level. “To deliver these reports with speed and accuracy meant we needed one form of the truth and the new data warehouse provides that,” Dwarakanath says. Milton Keynes University Hospital is also able to deliver live reporting now. Live reporting is helping the trust manage staffing numbers more effectively in critical departments like A&E. This benefits both the clinical staff and, most importantly, the patient. “We have achieved this by combining multiple technologies and an integration into our patient records system,” he says.

“Working in an Agile way was really important to break the work down and keep a focus on the whole project,” Dwarakanath says of the adoption of Agile working methods in partnership with Telefónica Tech. Feedback throughout the project meant any necessary changes were made before project completion. Dwarakanath says: “A partner like Telefónica Tech helps you visualise a project, break it down to smaller tasks and focus on the delivery.”