The Health Foundation launches consultation to inform review on quality indicators for general practice in England

An online consultation to inform a national review of measures of quality of general practice in England has opened today.

NHS professionals from across England including, but not restricted to, GPs, practice managers, general practice nurses, and pharmacists – their representative organisations, as well as patient and carer groups and the Department of Health’s arm’s-length bodies – are being invited to contribute their views by 10am on Monday 24 August 2015.

The Health Foundation, an independent health care charity, has been asked by the Department of Health to review indicators of the quality of general practice in England, and will look at how they could be made better to support improvements to care.

General practice has a unique place at the heart of the NHS – it receives strong public support and performs well when compared internationally. However, better data on quality of care could help GPs to make their services even better by giving them a greater understanding of the care they provide, and indicating where action could be taken to improve it.

Dr Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive of the Health Foundation, said: 'We’ve been asked by the government to do a piece of work looking at the quality of care in general practice, in particular looking at the information that is available. As we know, data and information is a really powerful lever to try to help people improve care for patients. There is a lot of information around and a lot of energy being spent to collect it – so "could we do better?" is the exam question.

'We are asking a lot of questions in our online consultation and would be very interested in the responses from GPs, practice managers, general practice nurses, pharmacists and others. It’s really important to get this right and this consultation is a good opportunity to hear the voices of those directly involved in providing care as well as their representative organisations.'

The review will:

• analyse existing indicators and establish whether they present a comprehensive picture of the quality of general practice 
• identify the main purposes for which indicators could be developed, such as improving the quality of care, informing patient choice or increasing public accountability; and consider whether current indicators would help to achieve these aims
• establish how existing indicators could be used to understand the quality of care received by different population groups
• draw on best practice from the NHS and other comparable health systems
• improve metrics in a way which does not add to the current burden of administration
• be informed by a public consultation on the views of NHS professionals and their representative organisations, patient and carer groups and the Department of Health’s arm’s-length bodies.

The review will also look at what role better data might play for other purposes, such as informing patients about the quality of local services or aiding public accountability.

The Foundation is urging all interested parties to go to engage.health.org.uk and take part in the consultation to help inform the review.

Findings will be published by the end of September 2015.

Media Contact

Thais Portilho, Senior Public Affairs Manager
T: 020 7257 8027
M: 07584 995681
E: thais.portilho@health.org.uk

Notes to Editors

The consultation website engage.health.org.uk will go live at 11am on Monday 20 July 2015.

Deadline for submissions is 10am on Monday 24 August 2015. Findings will be published by the end of September 2015.

Read more about the independent review of GP quality indicators here: https://www.health.org.uk/programmes/projects/independent-review-gp-quality-indicators