300 practices’ QoF results online at GP’s site

Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF) results for nearly 300 practices have been put online by a GP who plans to include data for every practice in the UK as figures are released.

Dr Gavin Jamie, a GP in Swindon, Wiltshire, has set up his website, www.gpcontract.co.uk, with the figures that have so far been supplied by nine primary care trusts.

The site is free to access and will be open to anyone to look up QoF results by practice. At the moment the data on the site for each practice shows the practice’s prevalence for each of the disease areas in the clinical domain of the QoF plus the practice’s achievement levels and patient numbers for every indicator within each disease area.

Dr Jamie told EHI Primary Care that the site is only in its early stages of development.

“Its pretty basic at the moment and I have only got data from 272 practices but it gives at least some idea of what is coming.”

So far the site only contains information on the clinical domain of the QoF but Dr Jamie hopes to put up the non-clinical indicators from the practices he has data for shortly.

Dr Jamie is building the Quality and Outcomes Framework database as part of his MSc in Health Informatics and hopes it will be useful for individual practices to compare prevalence and performance as well as for PCTs and health researchers.

His introduction to the site says: “Much of this information is at least as interesting for what it says about populations of patients as what is says about individual practices. For instance the prevalence of diabetes in every PCT in the country can now be calculated accurately.

“It will also allow study of the effects of the type of practice. Are small practices as effective as larger ones at reducing cholesterol? Are they better at reviewing medication? This website should allow you to answer these questions and many others.”

Dr Jamie says the database is not and never will be a money making venture. The website also contains a warning to visitors about interpretation of the data which says, “The data contained here does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement of any practice. In fact this data should not be used as the basis for choosing a practice. There are many more important things.”

The Freedom of Information Act has stimulated publication of practice by practice results for the Quality and Outcomes Framework. However, many PCTs approached by Dr Jamie have said they will not release information at the moment as figures for every practice in England are due to be published in early August by the Health and Social Care Information Centre. Practice by practice figures for Scotland are due on 27 May.