Serougi to head GPES advisory board

A chair has been appointed to the GPES Independent Advisory Group, which is expected to review at least three requests for data extraction at its first meeting in May.

The NHS Information Centre announced this week that Neil Serougi has been appointed as inaugural interim chair of the group, which has been set up to review requests for data via the General Practice Extraction Service.

An IC spokesperson told eHealth Insider it was too early to predict what the overall volume of requests for data extraction would be, but it was expecting at least three customer requests to be discussed at the IAG’s first monthly meeting.

The advisory group will review the customer extract request and confirm that it is consistent with the GPES information governance principles.

Members will weigh risks and benefits in order to assess whether the extraction is, in their view, appropriate and in the public interest and make a recommendation as to how to proceed.

Serougi is a member of the Digital Birmingham Board and former director of informatics and communications technology at Solihull Primary Care Trust and the NHS Connecting for Health programme for East Birmingham and Solihull.

He said the advisory group would uphold a “rigorous focus” on safeguarding patient information, while ensuring requests to the service ultimately benefitted patient care.

NHS Information Centre chief executive Tim Straughan said Serougi had a strong track record for championing high standards of information governance.

His appointment should be a “clear signal to people across primary care and beyond that robust and transparent governance will be a hallmark of GPES.”

Straughan added: “We want both patients and those working in primary care to be reassured that extractions of data from GPs’ clinical systems will only be for purposes that have been judged independently to be of benefit to the care the NHS provides to patients.”

In addition to submitting their requirements to the GPES IAG, prospective GPES customers may also need to seek approval from other external bodies such as the NIGB ECC or a Research Ethics Committee.