Tony Hirst writes about how he analysed GP data on his OUseful blog (get the data here).
You might want to combine this with the GP patient lists and QOF data previously published on Help Me Investigate Health.
Author Archives: Paul Bradshaw
Get up to speed with issues in nursing with The Independent’s series
The Independent has been running an in-depth series on the ‘crisis in nursing’, by Christina Patterson. It’s a useful read if you want to understand how the profession and the wider NHS have changed through the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as how to tackle a big subject from various angles (historical perspective; case study; personal experiences; training; culture).
Links and key passages with contacts and reports in bold below:
Part 1: A crisis in nursing: Six operations, six stays in hospital – and six first-hand experiences of the care that doesn’t care enough Continue reading
The leaked draft NHS reforms risk register
Health Bill Transition Risk Register NC 15 Oct 10 Dept Bd Version v1
A draft version of the risk register that was prepared – but not released – as part of the Health and Social Care Bill has been leaked and is available above.
The leaked document has been widely reported on, with The Guardian noting that it suggests “Emergencies in the NHS could be less well managed under the government’s controversial health reforms”.
Other risks it reports include:
• “Greater costs if new GP-led consortiums make greater use of the private sector. “One example of area where system could be more costly is if GP Consortia makes use of private sector organisations/staff which adds costs to the overall system.”
• “A danger that the new system is set up too quickly, threatening the running of the NHS.
• “A loss of financial control. “Financial control is lost due to the restructuring of budgets distributed between or allocated to organisations within the system [to be clarified],” it said.
• “Unfavourable media coverage. “Public reputation. There is a risk that the transition will be presented in a negative light via the media. Two of the biggest risks which have already surfaced in the media are i) that the reforms will continue to be characterised through the prism of privatisation and ii) financial cuts.”
The Telegraph says
“it lists 43 points ranging from fears for staff morale to problems with transferring responsibilities through workers who are also at risk.
“The document, dated September 2010, was handed to health writer and commentator Roy Lilley after repeated refusals by the Government to publish the register.”
Anything else you can find?
The new health system visualised by the BBC
The structure of the NHS - image from BBC News
Here’s a useful ‘before and after’ illustration of the structure of the NHS now, and as it will look (as of April 2013) after the changes implemented by the Government. It helpfully illustrates the flow of money and accountability in the new system.
Do you know of any other useful resources on the restructure?
GP commissioning: the full data from False Economy
Video: Doctor’s questions to Lansley during visit to Royal Free Hospital
The Green Benches blog about the video above showing Dr Ron Singer‘s questions to Andrew Lansley about the proposed health reforms, during his controversial visit to the Royal Free Hospital. Lansley doesn’t stop to answer.
Singer is, according to the blog, “a retired GP and President of the General Practitioner’s Union with 30 years experience”.
The video follows previous reporting of the stage management of the visit.
The structure of the NHS – link
One of the initial barriers to investigating health issues is getting your head around the apparent complexity of the UK health system and its jargon. Over at National Health Service History, however, Geoffrey Rivett has put together one of the clearest guides I’ve seen on its various parts and how they connect together, regularly updated to boot (the latest being in November 2011).
The page on A guide to the NHS is worth reading in full for those looking at health issues for the first time, setting out some of the key distinctions (such as that between primary and secondary care), how money flows, and where responsibility sits. Continue reading
NHS trust performance and patient ratings – data
NHS Local have launched a service to search for NHS trust ratings and performance data. Sadly there doesn’t appear to be a link to the full data, so we’ll work on scraping it if someone else doesn’t get there first.
The email about the service promises more data to come:
“NHS local plans to expand the service by creating star-ratings on the performance of GPs. We also intend to offer more detail about the hospital trusts, showing data and patient satisfaction about specific treatments, such as knee or hip operations. The feedback from patients is not yet being shown in realtime, but we are working towards that.”
And there’s a contact area to give feedback – let them know we want the raw data!
Public health spending now and to come – data and documents
Data visualised by David Buck: NHS public health spending per head 2010-11 mapped to local authorities by local authority index of deprivation
Next year a huge chunk of money for health improvement services will be taken from local NHS bodies (PCTs – primary care trusts) and given to local government (councils) instead.
As a result, as David Buck explains, the Department of Health has had to quickly find out – for the first time – how much money is being spent on public health, so that it knows how much it needs to reallocate – and the result is particularly useful if you’re interested in previous spending or how it might change under the new system. Continue reading
Data: GP patient lists – now with QOF data
Following Sunday’s post on GP patient list data and possible avenues to explore, Carl Plant has added Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF) data, which provides extra context on the prevalence of particular conditions in each surgery’s population, as well as other data such as age distribution. You can find the combined Google spreadsheet here, or the same data in Fusion Tables here.
Let us know if you do anything with it – or have questions.