Data as health
One of the major benefits of the OS Data Hub has been embraced by health services, particularly ambulances and Covid-19 vaccine programmes. OS data was essential during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic as it provided accuracy for the delivery of more than 250 million home test kits, as well as being used to map vulnerable citizens across different communities who required additional or specialised support during the lockdowns. From a national rollout to a more local scale, Barnsley Council used the OS data to create its own test and trace system plus a household vulnerability index. It is the value of data products such as these that can legitimately save lives and improve quality of life without relying on direct cost metrics, but it requires more effort to accurately highlight the true value of these data development.
DataIQ asked Michael Gordon, Senior Product Manager at OS, how the organisation demonstrates the value of its data without relying purely on financial metrics, particularly when the cost of healthcare and health emergencies can be difficult to calculate. Michael explained, “A good example of non-monetary value was our work with NHS Digital. Through membership of the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA) sponsored by the Geospatial Commission, NHS Digital were able to have free at the point of use access to the OS Places API, which they were quickly able to integrate with their current online ordering systems. This meant that when someone with potential Covid-19 symptoms needed to order a home testing kit, our addressing data enabled them to enter a postcode and easily select their address from a drop-down list. This function ensures only ‘clean’ and up-to-date addresses are captured, allowing for efficient delivery of tests to anywhere in Great Britain, especially during periods of high demand. As well as reassuring NHS Digital that kits are being delivered correctly, introducing this API has crucially sped up the online user journey and removed the need for manual address entries which can result in more failed deliveries.”
Elsewhere, the development of new data tools from OS meant that ambulance services, which rely on specific satellite navigation tools and indexes of where available equipment is located across communities, meant that ambulances no longer had to be offline to receive updates. This led to more ambulances being available and equipped with the best information to provide essential services when emergencies strike.
Storytelling is the way
Michael said, “Storytelling is really important, and the recognition of location data is certainly increasing. Rather than us saying it, it is much more powerful for customers to talk about the impact it has, especially from less traditional and more innovative markets.” Businesses can utilise social media campaigns for wider customer bases, internal memos for internal workforces and simple word-of-mouth conversations the value of data starts to become far more recognised.
To be able to explain how and why sets of data are valuable through storytelling is essential in developing an understanding of data value outside of the data office. OS recently managed this by supporting a nationwide campaign in the UK led by the British Heart Foundation that encouraged the registration of private defibrillators in the community for emergency services to locate and use in emergency situations. The project, called The Circuit, was set up to be the national defibrillators network maps and geo references defibrillators across the UK to be always accessible in all emergencies. The Circuit synchronises every 60 seconds with the live dispatch system of ambulance services and provide them with the location of the nearest defibrillator which can regularly mean life or death before getting a patient to hospital.
Storytelling is nothing new to the world of business, but it can be easily overlooked as a cornerstone technique for making something intangible understandable. People want to hear about the benefits and real-world implications of data, and it is through creating stories that data offices can build momentum for their craft and add legitimacy to their output.
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