How SPARK Fusion® Addresses NHS Challenges from Lord Darzi’s Report

In a recent independent investigation led by Lord Darzi, a number of pressing challenges currently faced by the NHS were highlighted. The report emphasises the need for significant improvements, particularly in patient engagement, workforce support, and operational efficiency, to ensure that healthcare professionals can continue to deliver high-quality care in increasingly demanding environments.

At SPARK TSL, we believe that SPARK Fusion® is uniquely positioned to support hospitals in addressing these challenges head-on, by empowering Trusts to make patient engagement a core part of their service delivery and streamlining workflows for staff.

In this blog, we highlight some of the critical challenges in Lord Darzi’s findings, and indicate how our cutting-edge bedside technology, SPARK® Fusion, can play a key role in addressing these issues.

Enhancing patient engagement: Giving patients a voice

Patients often feel disconnected from their own care journey, with limited opportunities to meaningfully share their experiences and insights.

Darzi states: “The NHS should aspire to deliver high quality care for all, all of the time. That not only means care that is safe and effective but that treats people with dignity, compassion and respect, making their experiences as positive as they can be. Yet patient satisfaction with services has declined and the number of complaints has increased, while patients are less empowered to make choices about their care.

The NHS is paying out record sums in compensation payments for care failures, which now amount to nearly £3 billion or 1.7% of the entire NHS budget.”

How SPARK Fusion® helps

SPARK Fusion® can improve patient engagement by making surveys accessible to patients from a device at the bedside, or from their own. Trusts can work with our team of tech experts to curate and deploy specific surveys on the platform, to gather feedback on key service areas, whether in outpatient departments, A&E, or on the wards.

This digital approach allows Trusts to implement initiatives such as the Friends and Family Test, helping them gather real-time insights without relying on traditional pen and paper methods.

By automating the feedback process, SPARK Fusion® empowers patients to share their experiences and helps Trusts collect actionable insights to continuously improve care, while also reducing paper wastage and operational costs.

Tackling workforce pressures: Supporting healthcare staff

Another concern raised in the report is the mounting pressure on the NHS workforce and the high levels of sickness absence post pandemic.

Staff are struggling under the weight of growing workloads and limited resources, becoming disengaged leading to burnout, affecting their ability to provide the highest standards of care.

How SPARK Fusion® helps

SPARK Fusion® offers patients the ability to easily communicate to the outside world, with video calling and chat functions to improve experience, while also providing staff with a secure messaging platform to reduce their admin workload.

Our streamlined communication platform allows staff to share critical updates and comms, operational information, and training resources across departments from one central hub—giving them more time to focus on patient care instead of hunting through files of paperwork.

Staff can also utilise SPARK Fusion® and HL7 integration to communicate directly with patients from their phone or tablet, to share scan results, confirm appointments, and handle any ward requests from the nurse call feature, such as a patient needing a glass of water, body care, or a wheelchair. This cuts down on the need for excessive face-to-face interaction on wards and consultation rooms, allowing staff to prioritise more essential tasks, and ensure the correct staff member actions the appropriate request straight away.

Streamlining operations: Driving efficiency and reducing wait times

Long wait times and delays in accessing healthcare services remain a persistent issue in the NHS, as noted by Lord Darzi.

“From access to GPs, to community and mental health services, on to A&E, and then to wait not just for more routine surgery and treatment, but for cancer and cardiac services, waiting time targets are being missed.”

“In 2010, 94% of people attending a type 1 or type 2 A&E were seen within 4 hours; by May 2024, that figure had dropped to just over 60% (and for all 3 types of A&E combined, performance is now at 74%)”.

How SPARK Fusion® helps

While we recognise that NHS wait times are at record highs, SPARK Fusion® can help ease the pressure and keep patients informed from the outset, reducing the need for unnecessary trips to the GP surgery or A&E.

With the SPARK Fusion® platform, patients can receive appointment reminders sent by their GP, straight to their own device.

Every month, over 1 million people do not turn up to their appointment. Enhancing patient flow and automating resource management creates a more efficient experience for both patients and staff, increasing patient awareness of the importance of attending or cancelling appointments in advance, therefore preventing waiting list blockages.

SPARK Fusion® has the ability to display web-links within the app straight from the Trust’s website, such as wait times, so patients know from the outset how long they’d likely to be waiting and may encourage them to look for an alternative nearby service.

Many patients come to A&E without knowing where they should go or how urgent their issue is. For example, sprains, insect bites, burns, and broken noses are considered non-emergency, and can often be treated at the pharmacy or minor injury units (MIUs).

Digital signage for this type of service can be created and uploaded to the Fusion platform, and serves as an additional educational resource. Keeping patients informed and reducing the demand on staff helps to prevent unnecessary hours of waiting resulting in a poor patient experience. 

Building a resilient NHS with SPARK Fusion®

The findings from Lord Darzi’s report emphasise the critical challenges facing the NHS, but they also highlight an opportunity to drive meaningful change.

With SPARK Fusion®, Trusts gain a flexible, powerful tool to tackle these issues and more. We’re dedicated to working with Trusts to deliver the tools needed to support high-quality, sustainable care for all.

To find out more about how our future-ready solution can transform patient experience and care, contact our team today.