Even the most reluctant of converts to online research must surely see the value of comparison tools and the ease with which they help us make informed choices. Booking holidays, comparing mortgage deals and gathering insurance quotes are obvious but demonstrably useful examples of the way many of us view and review comparator information - at the click of a button.
In the world of local health and care service commissioning, market quality and the drive for stronger governance, we’re increasingly expected to do the same. We may refer to the process using dry, technical terms like ‘data aggregation’ but we do so in pursuit of worthy causes such as transparency, accountability and raising standards.
Concerns will always be voiced in some quarters around issues of provenance and data reliability, but I believe benefits usually outweigh risks, especially for resources which have been thoroughly researched and bench tested.
MyNHS, a new microsite recently launched on NHS Choices, is the latest expression of this resolve to embrace the scrutiny of peers. It encourages health and care services to look honestly at the quality of their provision and address those areas needing improvement. The site combines previously disparate data sets to compare health and care services’ performance with each other, over a range of measures on a local and a national level.
Specifically, this site allows users to compare how local authority commissioners promote public health in their communities and to assess the outcomes they deliver through commissioning adult social services. Meanwhile, health and care providers can also be scrutinised on their strengths and weaknesses. The site currently hosts information relating to hospital services, but more data from CCGs, GP practices, clinicians and mental health trusts will be added at a later date.
I see this becoming another valuable resource for local authorities and local system leaders, including health and wellbeing boards, helping them identify areas for improvement in the pursuit of joined up health and care services. And of course, they are already using and comparing data from a range of sources to better define gold standards and drive improvements where needed.
To create the site, the Department of Health worked closely with sector partners including LGA, ADASS, Public Health England and NHS England. We also took wise counsel from patient representative groups, charities and professional bodies to make sure we held true to the themes of transparency and open data – vital elements of the government’s efficiency and reform agenda.
The data available may not be new but the single view facility most certainly is, saving an awful lot of time and resource for organisations and individuals who might otherwise struggle to gather the information they need.
But after all the numbers have been crunched and comparisons made, the ultimate beneficiaries must be users of health and care services. Patients and professionals deserve a system that is honest, open and transparent. Using MyNHS will help make this goal a reality.
