Facilitator Handbook 2005 - PRIMIS
Facilitator Handbook 2005 - PRIMIS
Facilitator Handbook 2005 - PRIMIS
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Quality Data, Quality Outcomes<br />
<strong>PRIMIS</strong> <strong>Facilitator</strong> <strong>Handbook</strong><br />
Quality Data, Quality Outcomes<br />
Background<br />
The effective use of information<br />
management and technology is at the<br />
heart of the strategy to modernise the<br />
NHS, with quality information seen as<br />
the key to improving patient care and<br />
public health.<br />
"The most valuable repository about the current<br />
health of the population may well be GP records."<br />
Information for Health, NHS Executive, 1998<br />
The new GMS contract puts an emphasis on data quality for measuring achievement.<br />
“In order to measure achievement, practices will have to enter and retrieve high quality<br />
information from their practice clinical systems. To qualify for payment, quality framework<br />
data will be recordable, repeatable, reliable, consistent and auditable. IM&T systems are<br />
required in order to deliver such requirements. Education and training of practice staff will<br />
be supported through funded national programmes.”<br />
New GMS Contract 2003 - Investing in General Practice<br />
However, the primary care clinical system is more than just a data repository, being used as an<br />
integral part of the GP’s decision-making process during the consultation. Data quality is<br />
therefore essential at many levels.<br />
In 2000, electronic records were granted medico-legal status. Although provision is made for<br />
non-computerised practices, the expectation is that complete and accurate data will be<br />
recorded on a GP clinical system. There are certain areas of the patient’s medical history<br />
under the new GMS contract where there is consensus on how data should be entered.<br />
However, this is not always the case, especially in general practice where patients often<br />
present with problems which are not necessarily clear-cut and easy to record, are seen by<br />
different professionals and in different places. It is, therefore, essential to understand the<br />
processes involved in capturing data from the various sources within and outside of the<br />
practice in an accurate format.<br />
Data which are not accurate, complete, relevant, up-to-date and accessible may be dangerous<br />
to patients. For example, if a repeat prescription is not recorded accurately, severe harm to the<br />
patient could ensue; if an allergy is not entered, the record is not complete – such<br />
inadequacies could lead to medico-legal problems for the clinician and the practice.<br />
The Quality Data, Quality Outcomes training module provides new <strong>PRIMIS</strong> facilitators with<br />
knowledge and understanding of the importance of data quality and the recording of data for<br />
the quality and outcomes indicators of the new GMS contract. It will raise an awareness of the<br />
issues around the flow of data in and around a general practice and the difficulties in recording<br />
data and validating the quality of the data when they are entered and when they are later<br />
retrieved.<br />
The information facilitator will be able to encourage practices to use their GP clinical systems<br />
for recording data for quality outcomes, and apply change management theory to general<br />
practice.<br />
<strong>PRIMIS</strong> 25