New tool to help hospitals with critical care capacity planning
NHS Digital is working with Public Health England (PHE) and Cambridge University on a new tool to help hospitals with critical care capacity planning. The tool, called the Capacity Planning and Analysis System (CPAS), uses machine learning technology to analyse data and produce predictions that can be used by hospital Intensive Treatment Units (ITUs) to help plan what staff, beds and ventilators they may need, based on the number of patients they are currently treating for coronavirus (Covid-19).
The tool analyses data collected from PHE about patients who are being treated for Coronavirus, and this data is supplemented with data collected by the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC), and the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and Emergency Care Dataset (ECDS) collected by NHS Digital. The model provides data-driven insight reports to assist hospitals in critical care capacity planning for the treatment of Covid-19 patients, including planning for staffing, beds, ICU levels, and ventilation requirements. The tool also supports regional and national capacity planning and will provide reports to PHE, the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England and Improvement (NHSEI). No individual patient level predictions are provided, or patient-level data presented in the information shared.
NHS Digital is able to share the data with PHE, DHSC, NHSEI and Hospital Trusts under the COPI Notice we have been issued with by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. This requires us to share confidential patient information for Covid-19 purposes.
For more information about how NHS Digital is processing your data to support the response to COVID-19, see our Covid-19 response transparency notice.