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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

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