Data collection - Data Quality - Data Coding - Data Consistency - Data
culture will be the big issues for information management within PCGs -
The technology to support inter group/practice communications is now
relatively simple and 'cheap' - assuming the basic infrastructure is in
place within practices.

The 'best' solution is to collect the data as part of the normal
operational work of the practice - to achieve this you need information
to be collected by GPs, Practice Nurses, Clerical support staff,
Community staff, etc. This information will obviously need to be
collected in a standard form - use of templates/protocols/Read etc. All
to be implemented consistently across several different clinical systems
in use within the practices of the group.

You then require access to the data within your systems. Most other
industries are provided with standards based tools using ODBC, SQL  and
now OLAP - technologies to query operational databases - these support
'data mining', and 'data warehousing' techniques - to feed Management,
Executive and Geographical  Information systems.

The way forward, as supported and promoted by the NHSE for Primary Care,
is the use of  HQL - a hybrid of SQL created for the NHS and used by the
MIQUEST tool - which allows users to generate the queries they need to
support their 'health' related business requirements.  Sheila Teasdale -
a frequent contributor to this list can provide more information on the
use of MIQUEST for PCGs, along with information on those clinical
systems that support the tool.

All that is then needed is electronic access to prescribing/dispensing,
Acute and Community and complementary health and socio-economic
information and we have the complete picture?

The next task is of clinical and statistical/ public health
interpretation of the information obtained. A role performed by HA using
secondary care/OPCS data today with only 20-30% of the picture?
Obviously the information skills to analyse and interpret this
information are widespread within Primary care at the moment.

We can all then move into 'clinical governance' and 'Evidence based
Medicine' and commissioning primary care, community, acute, and
complimentary services to meet the needs of your patients.

And then home for tea and cucumber sandwiches, followed by resolving the
Chinese/Tibetan issue before supper.

Yours truly,

Mark Treleaven
BDS Solutions
Director, Business Development

Tel: 44 (0)1884 33440
Fax: 44(0)1884 34555
Web: http://www.bds-solutions.co.uk



		-----Original Message-----
		From:	Haines [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
		Sent:	Tuesday, April 28, 1998 12:03 AM
		To:	[log in to unmask]
		Subject:	Re: Locality Communications

		At 20:53 27/04/98 +0100, you wrote:
		>Maresah asked:
		>
		>>We are exploring options to improve communication and
information across
		>>our locality. As a start we are looking at the
management of secondary
		>>prevention in coronary heart disease.
		>>Has anyone heard of or used the Agora Health
Improvement Programme software
		>>or the MD Intranet?
		>
		>If it is a question of technological solution to
communication issues, 
		>why go through complicated (relatively) set ups?
		>
		>I would've thought,  with a relatively small number of
people,  you can
		>set up an e-mail mailing list.  Occasionally,  spice
that up a bit with
		>something like NetMeeting.
		>
		>The former is cheap,  the latter is free :-)
		>
		>If you want to know how to set up a mailing list using
client machines
		>and dial up ISPs,  let me know.
		>
		>
		>Ahmad

		Thanks Ahmad.
		 There are 2 issues we are looking at.
		1. Communication - should be reasonably straightforward.
We already have a
		home E Mailing list for our active members. 
		2. Information Management - grappling with this one.

		As part of the coronary disease management programme we
are trying to
		develop consistent data collection across a locality of
mainly one clinical
		system but with a few reprobates (like my practice). I
think the Agro
		software can be used to collect data but my concern is
that it will have to
		be run separately to the clinical system which
duplicates work.
		I was just wondering if anyone had used it as a data
collecting tool. I
		haven't found out the details yet but will let you know
if your interested.

		The website is  www.agorahealth.co.uk but it doesn't
explain much!

		BTW keep up the good work, Ghandi got there in the end
:-)
		I wish I had some choice but I happen to be in a
locality with high fliers
		so have to find my own path through the quicksand.
		My dream would be if the government had said, "Gather
together a group of
		people in your area who you feel comfortable working
with and share the
		same vision. Here is a budget which is realistic, now
work together with
		your colleagues of all disciplines and identify the
needs of your patients
		and together plan and provide services."

		Guess I 'll keep dreaming :-)

		Maresah
		 


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%