Prospex for Health

Southern Derbyshire Health Authority has Prospex installed in the Public Health, Information and Finance Departments.

Prospex proved to be an influential tool in the initial configuration of Primary Care Groups (PCGs) in Southern Derbyshire. PCGs are required to work in partnership with other health and social service providers such as Local Authorities, Social Services and voluntary organisations. Prospex has been used to demonstrate the co-terminosity between the PCG boundaries and those of their partner organisations.

Following this initial work Prospex is being used to profile, at Health Authority and PCG level, the health resources consumed by disease area.

In addition to this analysis Prospex is giving a visual representation of the population demographics collected for Health Needs Assessment (HNA). This combination of needs and resource usage gives the Authority a powerful tool to help plan future health investment.

Prospex has also proved useful in demonstrating the effect of 'market forces' in the way in which the population access various services. Stephen Frampton, a member of the Finance Department in Southern Derbyshire, has recently been producing maps which demonstrate the patient flows and catchment areas for the local NHS Trusts. He stated that:

"In all areas of my work, whether it be with PCGs or Trusts, the ability to map the data flows with Prospex has been a real benefit. Being able to visualise the data in map form really brings it to life and makes it easier to understand."