Written by Jill on Friday June 25th 2010 in Press Releases, What We're Doing

Scenario Generator helps PCTs identify savings of £166m

Press Release: Bedfordshire PCT has been using Scenario Generator, a simulation analysis tool, to quickly test out ideas for improving their efficiency and saving money without compromising on quality of patient care. During initial analysis the organisation demonstrated that, when applied across the whole of England, around £166m can be saved in direct financial costs to the NHS by shifting treatment of dermatology from hospital outpatient departments into the community.

Dr Nick Gaunt from the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement says; “This kind of software really comes into its own as healthcare organisations plan for the current financial climate”.

Scenario Generator is a visual simulation tool which allows NHS staff to test out real life scenarios in a risk free environment, and using its statistically accurate results, make evidence based decisions as to which changes will help an organisation the most.

Bedfordshire PCT used Scenario Generator to create a “virtual PCT” that quickly simulated many possible scenarios and found one that not only saved them £1.5m every year, but was agreed by all the medical staff to be just as good, if not better for patients than the current solution.

“This is exactly what we are here for – providing tools that let teams quickly test their ideas for efficiency improvements – we all know we need to change to do things better and cheaper – but the cost and risk of trying out ideas slows down change – simulations remove that problem” says Mark Elder, CEO of SIMUL8 Corporation, the company which develops Scenario Generator.