Enhancing the use analysis and dissemination of healthcare information

Accepted.
The Government stated in Patients First and Foremost (Department of Health, 2013) that, ‘From 2015, [NHS England] will ensure that data on services at specialty level is increasingly available. To do this they will work with providers, patient groups and specialty level organisations and those bodies such as the Health and Social Care Information Centre and the Care Quality Commission...’
It is important for healthcare professionals to provide information of this kind which will act as a catalyst for improvements in audit quality, participation and analysis that will enable fuller transparency. As the recent publication of outcome data for a number of surgical specialties has shown, we are at the start of an age of much greater openness about the quality of care, and all in the NHS, including health professionals, need to play their part in opening up information for patients and the public. The publication of this data has already stimulated specialist societies to take ownership of the setting and monitoring of clinical standards.

Patient records must be clear, accurate and legible. This is a requirement set out by professional bodies including the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council. In accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018, organisations must ensure the information they hold is accurate and where necessary, kept up to date.

Nearly all Trusts in England have been enrolled in NCIP (99%) and over 9,000 consultants now have access to the portal following universal access given across 7 surgical specialties.

NCIP is on track to give access to every consultant in 14 surgical specialties by 1 April 2025 with the intention of expanding into non-surgical specialties subsequently. Access to the portal has also been given to Medical Directors, Responsible Officers (who have governance responsibilities) and Trust Specialty Clinical Leads.

Medical Royal Colleges have actively supported the publication of individual consultant outcome data in the relevant specialties. The Consultant Outcomes Publication began with ten national clinical audits in June 2013; the information published is available on the NHS Choices Website and 2014 data will be published on My NHS. So far, over 99 percent of consultants have agreed or not objected to information regarding their practice being published and compliance with plans to report consultant-level data became mandatory, through the NHS standard contract, in 2014/15. Consultant data for neurosurgery and upper gastro-intestinal has also now been published. NHS England is looking into which outcomes data could be most usefully and feasibly collected to extend the programme. In addition, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges’ 2013 publication “i-care: Information, Communication and Technology in the NHS” reiterated the commitment to transparent collection and provision of information and the involvement of clinicians in the provision and use of clinical data.

This recommendation was accepted by the Government. However, the Government did not set out its position on how such a professional duty was to be envisaged or implanted.