Research Heroes of the Month - March 2023

This month we would like to say thank you to IT, Performance and Informatics who have worked with R&D in partnership with Akrivia Health.

Research heroes are individuals who are part of a hidden army of staff supporting research across the organisation. We want to take the opportunity to celebrate their contribution and thank them for making a difference.

This month’s Research Heroes are our IT and Performance and Informatics Teams alongside LYPFT partner Akrivia Health who help our R&D team to unlock our CareDirector data.

LYPFT are working with Akrivia Health, helping to harness the data within patients’ electronic records to improve processes such as service evaluation, auditing and research. Data is extracted from CareDirector, anonymised and structured into a useable format. This partnership will streamline processes within service evaluation, auditing and research and development.

The implementation of this system would not have been possible without the input from members of the IT and Informatics Team. The R&D Team have worked with Akrivia to identify the data within CareDirector which can be extracted into the platform and provided valuable trouble-shooting and technical expertise.

Akrivia will benefit service users by allowing us to identify a wider variety of research projects and opportunities to take part in research.  It will allow us to participate in previously rejected research projects and make evidence-based decisions on service developments. We can look at disease outcomes and intervention efficacy and allow us to implement successful interventions much more quickly.

Carl Money, Head of Performance and InformaticsCarl Money Head of Performance and Informatics said: “Being fairly new to the Trust, it was great to see some of the potential in the data we hold being unlocked in such an innovative way. The project could really help the Trust and external partners make the most of the unstructured data in CareDirector (like case notes), speeding up audits and other service evaluations. I’m really pleased the IT and Performance and Informatics Teams were able to help, and worked so effectively with other teams in the Trust, and with Akrivia!

Anyone interested to know more about research and/or become a participant then please contact the research department at research.lypft@nhs.net.

Find out more about research on our Research website pages.