As the Welsh government prioritize digital transformation, they've embarked on building a next-generation NHS app that promises to revolutionize patient care and access to healthcare services.
Behind the app is EventStoreDB; the open-source operational database built for Developers looking to harness the power of Event Sourcing, real-time data and more.
Why it's a "dragon of an app"
Whilst an NHS app is already successfully used throughout England, building the app for NHS Wales has additional complexities - including the need for it to be bilingual. Moreover, where the NHS England app is primary-care focused, NHS Wales ambitiously want the app to provide real-time data updates, seamlessly integrate with existing healthcare systems, and give patients access to their data along with ownership of their personal information.
EventStoreDB: the database of choice
Considering the patient-first approach NHS Wales are taking with their app and the requirement to harness secure real-time data, EventStoreDB is arguably the only database suited to their ambitions.
That’s because unlike traditional databases, EventStoreDB goes above and beyond storing just current-state data; instead, it uses an event based state transition data model. Events are streamed and stored in real-time, along with the business context that traditional databases intentionally lose. As such, you can access not just what changed in your application, but why it changed.
EventStoreDB in practice
To demonstrate the power of this, let’s consider an example of how EventStoreDB will be used by NHS Wales to provide patients with visibility of their health record.
One of the key aims for the programme is to give patients access to all medical information in one place, regardless or whether it’s from primary, secondary or private care, or entered by the patient.
As EventStoreDB will store their state transition events, any information that's date stamped will be filterable and can be pulled through to the app. For example, if a patient has a blood test by a laboratory, information including the patient's NHS number and details of where the test results are stored will be processed on the date it was carried out.
On the app, the patient will see their health timeline with any appointments, results and other health interactions. This information can be filtered by test result, appointment and more. If the patient proceeds to click “show more”, the app goes to the database through an API and pulls the data back to display it to the patient.
This can be used for a range of other events; future plans include journal entries, where the patient can write how they’re feeling on a particular day. This then goes into their event timeline and can be shared with NHS staff.
Learn more about the app
Ultimately, through using EventStoreDB, NHS Wales can harness the power of real-time data streams to empower patients, improve communication, and ensure seamless integrations with other existing healthcare systems. Take a deep dive into the app in this article by Computer Weekly.
Discover EventStoreDB for yourself
If you’re in healthcare and are wondering if EventStoreDB is suited to your business, check out our healthcare use cases.
