DIGITAL SPACE MODELLING
Capturing data to improve patient flow and distancing
Alan Dunlop, an Associate and Project manager at Arup, explains how a team from the global engineering consultancy used digital modelling to model and test different capacity scenarios for London’s Whittington Health NHS Trust (Whittington) associated with distancing requirements as the Trust planned for winter. A key goal was to anticipate, and plan to avoid, overcrowding of the Trust’s Emergency Department waiting rooms.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the planning and management of healthcare spaces – always key to smooth operations – became critical to increasing public confidence and safety in attending hospital. Fully understanding the function and interconnectivity that different spaces provide, and the implications for increasing personal space, enables hospital leadership teams to make informed, evidence-based decisions. Reconsidering how to use the available space can help answer pressing questions like: n How many people can be
accommodated at the recommended safe physical distance in given spaces – for example hospital waiting rooms?
n What operational interventions could be made to optimise the flow of patients, and the use of the available space?
n What seasonal changes in demand could be better managed by understanding the capacity challenges and creating flexible spaces?
We propose a digital solution to address these questions and better inform planning for social distancing. Hospital estates hold significant quantities of patient data, such as patient attendances at Emergency Departments, time taken to be seen by a clinician, and treatment and waiting times. However, such data is usually stored across separate spreadsheets and databases. Leveraging
Modelling of occupancy in the paediatric waiting room in a ‘do nothing’ scenario.
digital tools, we enable estates managers to understand this disparate data by modelling it in an easy-to-understand visual form. Simple to engage with and interrogate, a model can be used to review the impact of changes through scenario testing, and to discuss long-term resilience for future high demand.
What this means in practice Across the UK, Emergency Departments typically experience a seasonal rise in emergency attendances every winter, and in autumn 2020 there was an additional pressure to face. The UK approached a
second wave of COVID-19, and distancing guidelines were in place to save lives and protect the NHS. NHS Trusts themselves are familiar with capacity challenges, but adhering to social distancing presented new questions. Was there enough capacity to manage the seasonal increase in patients and maintain social distancing, to help mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the hospital? The health of patients, and the safety of staff and the public, would be influenced by the answer.
We approached Whittington Health NHS Trust (Whittington) with a proposal –
Using MassMotion allowed the Arup team to see the waiting room occupation throughout the busiest day, and ‘identify the scale of the problem’, (left, shown with no action taken, and, right, with all measures implemented).
42 Health Estate Journal May 2021
©Arup
©Arup
©Arup
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