Ministers are tomorrow due to announce a new wave of transparency requirements for the NHS, including the release of GP performance scorecards and clinical audit data.
Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude is to reveal the plans tomorrow, 7 July, as part of a wider “step change” in transparency across government.
HSJ learned the announcement will include proposals to publish “scorecards” showing the performance of GP practices, along the lines of the London GP outcomes framework, due to go live next month.
The London project, which has taken at least a year to come to fruition and was agreed with the capital’s local medical committees, will rate GP practices against 22 standards, incorporating quality and outcomes framework scores, screening take-up rates, immunisation data and prescribing information.
Data is to be presented as accessibly as possible, although “traffic light” style ratings are not expected to be used. HSJ understands the government will develop more GP outcome measures which will be included in the scorecards.
Tomorrow’s announcement will also include a commitment to accelerate the Department of Health’s plans to publish the results of national clinical audits allowing the comparison of providers or clinical teams.
The newly published measures would be listed on the NHS Choices website alongside the quality measures added in recent years, HSJ understands.The DH plans to stop funding audits which do not allow the public to make comparisons.
A priority for ministers is that data should be formatted in a standardised manner so it can be processed by third parties. Ministers hope that the release of more data will encourage businesses to develop commercial applications to process and interpret it.
2 Readers' comments