Case study / Increasing clinical engagement in costing

The NHS holds an increasingly detailed volume of information – on both activities and costs – about how its resources are used at patient level. Combined with other data sources, patient-level costing (PLICS) provides clinical teams with a rich source of information to help them understand their patients and services. Linking patient-level costs with outcomes allows the NHS to promote value for the patient, ensuring that resources are used in the most effective way possible to provide high quality care.

The challenge for costing teams is how to encourage clinicians to use PLICS data. How do you overcome and address the challenges raised about data quality? How do you get them to understand that the data can support their improvement initiatives?

The costing team at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust face similar challenges to other trusts. Since 2016 their priority has been to increase engagement with clinicians to drive improvements in the quality of the data used in PLICS, and to demonstrate how the data can help clinical services to reduce variation and improve patient care.  This case study describes a range of practical approaches they have taken to make this happen.