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NHS data are not accurate enough for monitoring doctors’ performance

London Susan Mayor

Data routinely collected about patients attending NHS hospitals in England and Wales are not suitable for monitoring the performance of individual doctors, says a report by the Royal College of Physicians for the Department of Health in England and the Welsh Assembly Government.

The research explored the potential use of hospital episode statistics (HES) in England and the patient episode database Wales (PEDW) to support the appraisal and revalidation of consultants.

These databases include information such as when a patient is admitted to hospital, their medical condition, which consultant they are allocated to, and when they are discharged. In his latest report on revalidation, the chief medical officer suggested that the databases be used as part of the information to assess the performance of doctors (BMJ 2006;333:163).

The Department of Health in England and the Welsh Assembly Government commissioned the Royal College of Physicians to set . . . [Full text of this article]

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