Data-quality issues plague primary care
Elaine Munday presents results from a study in the London
area that provide evidence of a need for continued investment in
improving data quality in primary care organisations.
keywords: data quality,
primary care, healthcare modernisation, ict deployment problems.
abstract
Data collection was once considered a by-product of clinical
entry, but it is now considered a critical factor in supporting the
needs of the National Health Service. The results of a study of the
state of data-quality developments in general practice in the London
area are reported. The survey was carried out in primary care
organisations between October and December 2001. The results
identify variation in implementing national service framework
requirements; that primary care organisations are confronting the
data-quality issue but there has been duplication of effort; and
that there is an urgent need for agreed centralised datasets and
codes prior to publication of new health initiatives. It is also
essential that funding is ring-fenced for investment in hardware,
software, training and human resources for the vision set out by the
Department of Health to be realised.
Br J Healthcare Comput Info Manage 2003; 20(3): 22–4. |
