Use of Management Information in the Health and Social Services Department – Operating Theatres

Background

Access to relevant and high quality management information allows organisations to make strategic and operational decisions efficiently and effectively.

The Health and Social Services Department (HSSD) is planning significant changes in the way it provides services.

HSSD has recognised the need for management information to underpin health reforms.

Scope

This review focusses on the use of management information in one area of acute hospital performance, the use of operating theatres. The review covers the extent to which HSSD:

• identifies relevant information needed to manage operating theatre utilisation
• ensures the quality of management information for operating theatre utilisation; and
• uses management information about operating theatre utilisation effectively.

Conclusions

Operating Theatres are expensive to build, equip and run. More needs to be done to identify the management information that is required to:

• support HSSD’s objectives
• ensure high quality data; and
• use data effectively to monitor and plan services.

The Theatres and Anaesthesia Division recognises that there are weaknesses in its management information, including in respect of theatre utilisation. The HSSD Informatics Strategy sets out the Department’s ambition for high quality management information and the Action Plan seeks to address known weaknesses.