A comment which may be of interest

Dr Rick Jones
Clinical Biochemistry & Immunology
Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust
Leeds General Infirmary
Great George St
Leeds
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Tel: 0113 392 2340
Fax: 0113 392 5174
LS1 3EX

http://www.ychi.leeds.ac.uk

>>> Andrew Little 28/10/2005 10:41:29 >>>
I have just discovered the GMC website has changed such that the data
provided is less helpful than it was.

For a given consultant , only the first forename (referred to as given
name) is shown rather than in the past all the forenames and hence the
full initials.

Not having this information will be detrimental 

I have emailed the gmc help desk about the matter (awaiting reply) but
it may be helpful if someone with more clout joined in. ?




>>> Rick Jones 28/10/05 10:15 >>>
Gary has emailed me about a problem with doctor & practice identifiers.


Does anyone have any advice?
Does anyone have a contact inside National Programme who can sort this
or is sorting this?

Rick

Dr Rick Jones
Clinical Biochemistry & Immunology
Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust
Leeds General Infirmary
Great George St
Leeds
[log in to unmask] 
[log in to unmask] 
Tel: 0113 392 2340
Fax: 0113 392 5174
LS1 3EX

http://www.ychi.leeds.ac.uk 

>>> "Mascall, Gary (Biochemistry)"
<[log in to unmask]> 26/10/2005 17:13:37 >>>
Dear Rick,
 
I think I emailed you about this a while ago, but it has become more
apparent as we set up our new Pathology system that the National
programme is in a shambles, and  that nobody appears to be willing to
sort things out.
 
For ease on maintenance, it was agreed that rather than having local GP
codes, then having to map these to national ones, we would go straight
for the national codes and give local easy to remember codes for data
entry staff. Sounded a good idea, as the national codes could be
uploaded from NACS site, and all local and surrounding PCT's GPs
selected. Worked a treat.
 
Unfortunately, as we check the GP's we find that they are not all
there, and it seems to be a hangover from the past and fund holding.
 
The national code looks like this GNNNNNNC, where G stands for GP (D
stands for Dentist - clever what!!!), NNNNNN is their individual PPA
(Prescription and Pricing Authority) number, and C is a check digit.
Unfortunately, this is practice specific, so if they move practice, they
need a different code!
 
Also, unless the practice has pestered the PCT, only full partners have
a code, part time and salaried GP's apparently prescribe off a partner's
code (totally not what should happen but it does). So, we find that
about 30 % of the people who place Pathology requests don't officially
exist nationally, so if the spine ever comes into play, what happens to
their results???
 
Similarly, what about Nurse practitioners, midwives etc, all of whom
may in their own right be able to place requests?
 
Bizarrely, for consultants, the national code is CNNNNNNN, where
NNNNNNN is their GMC number. However, this does not give you enough info
to uniquely identify the doctor, as a Dr Smith may have given his home
address not his work postal town for GMC purposes.
 
So far I have been going round the houses trying to see if something
can be done here to make things easier for us, but nobody really appears
to be bothered.
 
I am contacting you, as you were heavily involved with the PMIP
project, and may still know some movers and shakers who might be able to
do something before Pathology nationally re-invents the wheel multiple
times over. What I had hoped that it would be a simple task, it is for
the software I used to extract the 1700 GP's form the 92000 on the
national database, seems to be all uphill, with no down slopes in
sight.
 
If you feel you are not the right person to take this forward, but know
someone who can (?Ian Barnes/Jonathan Kay)), I would be grateful if you
could pass this on, and I would be more than happy to talk with anyone
who can start the ball rolling, even though it should already be heading
for goal.
 
Regards,
Gary
 
PS I did think about sending this to the ACB Mail base, then thought
better, as it is not really something everyone would want to see/know
about
 
 
 
 
G.C. Mascall 
Consultant in Clinical Biochemistry 
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

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Tel: 01562 823424 extn 53465/53136

 

 
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