How Cloud Technology is Helping Hospitals Improve Patient Care

Hospitals throughout the UK are seeking to utilise transformational cloud technology that will help them improve patient care both in and out of hospital.

It’s no secret that today’s hospitals and other healthcare organisations are having to work hard to keep up with the demands placed upon them. Hospitals are facing increasing pressure to deliver improved, personalised patient care whilst dealing with stretched budgets – a tricky combination that requires focused attention to address.

The government’s ‘Cloud First’ policy, first introduced in 2013, set out their position that when procuring new or existing services, public sector organisations should consider and fully evaluate potential cloud solutions first before considering any other option. It’s fair to say that hospitals have been more hesitant to transition services to the cloud than some, with strict regulations and cumbersome legacy IT systems trapping them in local deployments that struggle to cope with the changing nature of healthcare.

NHS Digital provided guidance in 2018 that gave healthcare organisations the green light to use cloud computing services to store sensitive information. The appetite is there, and it’s up to hospitals to plan digital transitions that are appropriate to their staff and patients’ needs. In this blog, we will explore how cloud technology is helping hospitals improve patient care.

Improve Patient Care

Forward-thinking hospitals that seek to improve patient care whilst remaining within strict budget constraints are increasingly moving to cloud technology. Here are five reasons why:

• Unlock siloed, hard to access data. Many hospitals store data in their own on-site data centres, making the information hard to access and potentially introducing information silos that can harm communication and productivity. Hosting data in cloud environments unlocks these silos, making it easier to deliver a consistent service to patients without compromising security.
• Free up human resources. Managing your own infrastructure can take up a lot of time and human resources, detracting from digital transformation initiatives. Hosting services in the cloud will remove the day-to-day management burden and allow IT to focus on innovations that improve patient care.
• Streamline day-to-day operations. Through the levels of data collection and analysis that are enabled by hosting data in the cloud, hospitals can make evidenced process decisions that allow them to provide the most appropriate care, quickly.
• Develop patient-accessible systems. Improving outpatient care is a key target for hospitals throughout the UK. Cloud technology gives hospitals the opportunity to develop patient-accessible systems that improve patient care and securely extend their reach to allow both hospital staff and patients to access data from anywhere, whether on-site or offsite.
• Integrated, always-on primary and outpatient care. Today’s patients can sometimes be frustrated by the fragmented services they receive when transferring between hospitals and departments. Cloud technology can help reduce that frustration by allowing key systems to integrate and giving patients a single record, not many.

Embrace Cloud Technology

Massive transformational changes that fundamentally improve patient care are achievable through the adoption of cloud technology. Six Degrees has an enviable track record of helping public sector organisations remove digital transition roadblocks and springboard to the cloud – the right cloud for them.

We are actively working with Central Government and Local Councils throughout the UK to improve the way they deliver citizen services: we recently helped Government Digital Service make considerable savings. To learn more about how we can help your organisation move its workloads to the cloud, get in touch with us.

Purchasing from Six Degrees through G-Cloud

Public sector organisations can purchase all Six Degrees cloud services through the G-Cloud framework. Click the following link to find all of our G-Cloud listed services: https://www.digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk/g-cloud/search?q=six+degrees