Accelerating improvement in urgent and emergency care using patient segmentation methods
A hospital trust operating in one of London’s most diverse and high-pressure healthcare environments, serving multiple communities.
Its Emergency Department (ED) faced persistent challenges due to high patient volumes, workforce shortages, and increasing demand for urgent care. Despite numerous initiatives to address demand and capacity, the Trust struggled to meet the national A&E four-hour standard and reduce unplanned admissions.
Leadership recognised the need for a new strategy that would focus on aligning services with actual patient needs rather than continuing traditional capacity-based approaches.
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Facing a challenging urgent and emergency care performance that seemed stuck despite a great deal of hard work, we commissioned Strasys to help us rethink what we were offering our population.
Strasys took a clinically led patient and population needs analytic approach to help redefine the idea of demand and how resources are allocated and consumed. The collaboration surfaced new insights that are helping us better understand how we use our current resources to meet patient and population needs.
The approach is unique, refreshing, and challenging, enabling the right conversations with our services across the Trust and partner stakeholders to rethink how we can better organise our existing resources to meet needs.
Strasys worked collaboratively to socialise the findings and insights. They are expert at what they do. They enjoy what they do. Together, we learned a great deal.
Chief Executive OfficerNHS Hospital Trust
Challenge
The Trust’s challenges extended beyond peak-time pressures, revealing deeper issues in resource allocation and patient flow:
- 70% of ED visits were low-complexity cases, such as Children and Quick Fix patients, who could be treated in alternative settings.
- High-complexity patients, including Deteriorating and Complex Elderly groups, consumed disproportionate resources, increasing ED wait times and hospital admissions.
- Long elective care waiting times drove patients to seek emergency care, adding to unplanned demand.
- Breach rates were high throughout the day, indicating resource inefficiencies rather than time-specific surges.
A new approach was needed—one that focused on understanding patient needs, optimising care pathways, and realigning resources for sustainable improvement.
A Different Approach
Strasys’ proven methodology for Clinical Service Reviews, integrates multi-sourced data-driven insights with real-world clinical expertise. A data-led, patient-centred approach focused on understanding who the patients are, what they need, and how care can be delivered differently.
Instead of treating all ED patients similarly, we developed distinct segments based on behaviour, clinical needs, and service utilisation. This enabled a radical and innovative process of rethinking services based on patient needs and the ‘jobs to be done’.
We analysed clinical, financial, and workforce data to identify distinct patient groups and mapped their journeys across ED, elective, and urgent care services to pinpoint pressure points. Through close collaboration with clinical teams, operational leads, and system partners, we co-designed a phased plan for targeted interventions and realigned resources to better meet patient needs.
Solution
In close collaboration with clinical teams, operational leads, and system partners, we co-designed a phased plan for targeted interventions and realigned resources to better meet patient needs.
Outcomes:
An objective and evidence-based approach to support the leadership to make confident decisions to address the service challenges:
- Clear patient segmentation model, providing a data-driven foundation for better demand management.
- Improved patient flow, reducing pressure on ED by ensuring patients receive the right care in the right place.
- Opportunities to reduce unnecessary ED attendances, freeing up resources for critical cases.
- More effective allocation of staff and decision-making, improving response times and patient experiences.
- Strategic alignment of workforce and services, ensuring sustainable improvements beyond short-term fixes.
A new way of thinking. A smarter approach to urgent care. Better outcomes for patients.
Do These Challenges Resonate?
Whether in Emergency Medicine, Nephrology, Community Care, or other specialities, common issues persist: demand exceeds capacity, workforce morale declines, and decision-making stalls.
Strasys delivers innovative, tailored solutions to overcome these challenges. Examples include:
- Streamlining care pathways to reduce waiting times.
- Redesigning services to better align with patient needs.
- Creating leadership coaching programmes to drive cultural change.
Let’s Talk
If you’re considering a clinical service review, drop us a message to explore how Strasys can help you achieve transformative solutions for better patient care.,
