Supporting organisations with Learning Health Systems

Learning Health Systems allow organisations to rapidly make decisions backed by data and evidence to improve how services are delivered and quickly monitor the impact and adjust the approach as necessary.

We have supported organisations and programmes to create learning health systems through providing academic expertise for understanding evidence to date, analysing data, evaluating change and impact, gathering qualitative insights from staff, patients and the public, and rapidly sharing learning in innovative ways.

Our approach

Our work has included:

• London COVID-19 Vaccination programme: we are supporting the London Vaccination programme to identify barriers to COVID-19 vaccination and solutions to improve uptake. Read our evaluation report on this work, view the one page summary of the report findings, and see how we used the five part framework in practice.
• Bedside Learning Co-ordinator: we are supporting the introduction of the Bedside Learning Co-ordinator role across the NHS. The Bedside Learning Co-ordinator was created at the NHS Nightingale Hospital London to gather insights from the frontline without increasing the burden on staff.
• North Central London Accelerated Elective Recovery Programme: We are working with North London partners to understand the impact of interventions designed to increase access to elective care and reduce the number of people waiting for treatment. Read our one page summary of learning to date

What is a Learning Health System?

For patient, staff and wider NHS benefit, learning health systems are committed to learning fast and acting fast across all dimensions: clinical, operational, and staff wellbeing. Central to the approach is a culture and ethos that is committed to making well-informed decisions and monitoring the impact of those decisions, adjusting the approach as required.

A learning system is put in place to do five things: create a rich data stream, analyse and test insights, make decisions, rapidly implement those decisions, and close the loop by checking reliability and effectiveness of that implementation.

Publications

• Systematically capturing and acting on insights from front-line staff: the ‘Bedside Learning Coordinator’ (BMJ Quality Safety): Jenny Shand, Dominique Allwood, Nicole Lee, Noor Elahi, Iain McHenry, Karen Chui, Sophie Tang, Zoe Dawson-Couper, James Mountford, Richard Bohmer
• Learning Systems: Managing Uncertainty in the New Normal of Covid-19 (NEJM Catalyst): Richard Bohmer, Jenny Shand, Dominique Allwood, Andrew Wragg, James Mountford
• The five habits of learning health systems (Health Service Journal): Dr Jenny Shand, Rachel Penniston
• Tackling barriers to COVID-19 vaccine uptake in London: a mixed-methods evaluation (Journal of Public Health) : multiple authors including Dr Jenny Shand, Rachel Penniston, Sophie Bulmer, Emma Mordaunt, John Illingworth