Dynamic demand planning

CARE Planner is an online tool which acute NHS trusts can use plan and prioritise demand and capacity in the wake of COVID19\.

The response of our NHS to COVID19 is extraordinary. Measures such as cancelling all elective surgery, creating 4000+ additional beds (within 9 days) and redeploying thousands of staff mean that the NHS has been able to cope with peak COVID19 demand, with capacity to spare. But this has come at cost. Mortality data shows that non-COVID19 deaths have risen (people not accessing essential health care?) and waiting lists will rise by 2.7m patients because elective surgery is not happening. By any standard, this backlog is huge, and the NHS will need to plan effectively to mange this and to minimise further impacts of COVID19 on the health of the nation.

Hence, the next challenge for the NHS is to transition back to normality as smoothly and as quickly possible. The Edge CARE Planner helps hospitals do exactly that. It is an interactive demand and capacity planning tool, drawing on simulation techniques and artificial intelligence, to help NHS trusts understand the backlog of patients, their available capacity and prioritise accordingly.

CARE Planner is an online tool that can be deployed quickly and calibrated to fit local circumstances. Acute trusts can use CARE Planner to simulate the impact of different scenarios, understand the impact of uncertainties and plan accordingly. CARE Planner is updated regularly so the underlying models are learning from the latest data and adapting to changes in national policy and local priorities.

CARE Planner has been developed with pilot NHS trusts, to ensure the outputs are valuable and timely, and relevant to the planning and prioritisation challenges facing typical acute trusts.