Interview with our UK Customer Success Manager: From Paper to Insight: How We Help Hospitals Become Data-Driven
03/07/2025For health systems looking to modernize, collecting and using patient outcomes data in real-time is a game-changer. But getting there is rarely straightforward. We sat down with Diana, CSM for Promptly’s collaboration with NHS Wales, to understand what it really takes to move from fragmented paper records to digital insights that improve care.
What are some common blockers hospitals face when trying to digitize patient data collection?
One of the biggest blockers is operational overload. Healthcare teams are already stretched thin, so anything that feels like “extra work” becomes a non-starter. That’s why we focus on embedding our solution into existing clinical workflows — for example, enabling automated questionnaire triggers based on EMR events.
Another challenge is staff buy-in. If the clinical or IT teams don’t see immediate value, it’s hard to keep momentum. We’ve learned that early wins — like automated triage through RAG scoring or removing paper forms from pre-op assessments — can quickly shift perceptions.
Finally, integration is often seen as a technical barrier. But because Promptly is FHIR-compatible, the value of real world evidence received in near real time by integrating Promptly with NHS Wales systems is appreciated by clinicians, patients and stakeholders at all levels. That makes a huge difference in adoption!
What kind of impact can hospitals expect once they’ve implemented Promptly Collect and Promptly Analyze?
It depends on the use case, but the most immediate impact is usually time savings and better patient care.
At one NHS site, for example, digitizing pre-op PROMs allowed the surgical team to triage patients more efficiently, saving both admin time and reducing cancellations. Clinicians can now review outcomes data before a consultation, which makes appointments more focused and effective.
There’s also the longer-term impact: once hospitals start seeing longitudinal data trends, they can benchmark services, detect care gaps, and make data-driven service improvements.
And because Promptly’s tools are privacy-preserving by design, teams feel confident using them even in highly regulated environments like the NHS.
Can you share a memorable success story from your work with NHS Wales?
It is still early days and there is a lot of potential to make a difference. However, impact is already showing: we can reach a lot more patients at a fraction of the cost and time compared to a paper-based approach. This makes a huge difference in patient’s care. For example, for a patient who was referred by A&E or their GP to a specialist service after they presented with symptoms suggesting a cardiac condition or even cancer, specialist clinicians can use our platform to assess and access patient’s results within minutes, before the patient’s first appointment, allowing for a faster response time and better care and health outcome results. Reducing timeframe for the patient to access specialist care means earlier treatment and better outcomes for the patient’s health.
What advice would you give to healthcare providers exploring digital innovation for patients outcomes like the solutions Promptly help can offer?
The key is to start with a real-world problem, not just a digital ambition. Whether it's improving patient follow-up, reducing pre-op delays, or tracking treatment effectiveness — identify where data can have a visible impact.
Then, prioritize collaboration. At Promptly, we work hand-in-hand with clinical, operational, and IT teams to adapt to their realities, not the other way around. Success comes when solutions fit into the existing ecosystem — not when they try to replace it overnight.
Also, make use of partners who understand both technology and healthcare. Many projects fail not because the tech is bad, but because change management was overlooked. Our role is to remove that burden from the hospital teams, guide them through each step, and prove value early so they can focus on the things that matter: improving patient’s lives.
What are the main privacy risks when working with AI and health data?
Proprietary AI models or the sharing of information through conventional methods (spreadsheets on some google drive) call into question basic data security principles. We need federated access to this data.
How does our Secure Data Environment and Federated Learning help mitigate those risks?
Our Secure Data Environments ensure that data never leaves the organization. We bring computation to the data, not the other way around. With federated learning, we can train models across multiple datasets without ever centralizing the data — preserving privacy while enabling innovation.
“We bring computation to the data, not the other way around.”
💡Useful links of your interest:
https://promptlyhealth.com/en/real-world-evidence/data-partners
