East London NHS Foundation Trust has been validated at Stage 6 of the HIMSS Analytics Maturity Assessment Model, becoming the first organisation in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region to achieve this distinction under the updated requirements launched in late 2024.

ELFT provides a broad range of mental health, community health, primary care, wellbeing and inpatient services across the City of London, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Bedfordshire and Luton. Its Stage 6 validation reflects a sustained, organisation-wide commitment to using high-quality data and advanced analytics to support continuous improvement and better patient outcomes.

Despite operating with multiple electronic patient records and data sources, ELFT successfully established a single, integrated data repository supported by a unified log-in system. This approach allows for seamless access to data for end users, reduces the risk of errors and improves overall data accessibility. The technical foundation is reinforced by strong data governance arrangements to ensure accuracy, consistency and appropriate use of information.

A particularly notable component of ELFT’s journey is its quality improvement approach, which equips staff and patients across the organisation with key skills in how to improve their service. The focus on improvement for over a decade has developed an understanding of the importance of data, the need to identify and tackle unwarranted variation, and confidence in utilising data to drive meaningful improvement.

Achieving HIMSS AMAM Stage 6 required a holistic transformation across four critical domains: technical infrastructure, data literacy, behavioural change and ethical governance. Together, these efforts enable ELFT to move beyond descriptive reporting toward deeper analytical insight, supporting informed decision-making and sustained quality improvement.

“Achieving HIMSS AMAM Level 6 is the realisation of a decade-long promise to our patients,” said Professor Amar Shah, chief quality officer at East London NHS Foundation Trust and the national clinical director for improvement, NHS England. “We have moved from asking what happened to understanding why it happened, and most importantly, how we can make it better tomorrow.”

Ellen Klaus, senior digital health advisor at HIMSS, validated the organization at Stage 6 and commented: “East London NHS Foundation Trust has demonstrated exceptional progress in advancing its analytics capabilities. Its achievement of AMAM Stage 6 sets a powerful benchmark for organisations across the EMEA region.”

The HIMSS Analytics Maturity Assessment Model provides a globally recognised framework for evaluating an organisation’s analytics capabilities, from foundational data practices to advanced, enterprise-wide use of analytics to drive improvement and value in healthcare delivery.