For episode 44 of the National Health Executive podcast, we were joined by Tom Bell, who has held management roles in the public, private and third sector – working specifically with the NHS in digital, telehealth and now as a patient safety partner.

Tom offered his insight into what patient safety actually means for the NHS, the make-up of the NHS when it comes to patient safety, how data can factor into decision-making, and what the future could/should look like.

“The lack of data in the NHS is criminal – if I wind you back through the mists of time, when I worked for Carlsberg at the turn of the century, we had access to lots of data about lots of things,” explained Tom.

He continued: “I could sit at my desk and download, in almost real time, who’d bought what, which accounts were up, which accounts were down, which were in profit etc. – that data was there. That was a company, albeit a large company and very well-run company, that was selling sugary alcoholic liquid…

“When I came into the NHS a number of years later, I remember saying to my director of strategy, ‘Where’s the dashboard I can access?’ and he looked at me as if I was speaking Swahili.”

Listen to the full podcast to learn more about the possibilities for the NHS.

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