Do primary and secondary care clinicians trust one anothers data?
TH: “Clinicians trust clinical data for which they have been responsible and over which they have some control. As more clinical data is entered by clinicians ‘at the bedside’, as it has been by GPs in their surgeries for many years, clinicians’ confidence in the data generated by each other is likely to rise.” What data or information technology needs have to be met for commissioning to stand a chance of successfully driving healthcare reform and value for money? TH: “Accurate data, entered and owned by clinicians is a key success factor. We need to have robust, transparent ways of adjusting for case mix and patient co morbidities. “Clinicians and patients need to have confidence in the clinical quality outcome metrics on which any reforms are based, too.” What lessons can be learned from the lack of impact of PCT commissioning? TH: “In a public health system, funded by taxation and free and the point of use, there is an implicit compact between the Government and the population. It d
