Collection of data on patient outcomes will become routine, predicts
OHE commission
Collection of data on patient outcomes will become routine for most
conditions and NHS activity in the next five years, according to a health
economics commission.
Within 10 years it will be common practice to collect data that measure
the impact of NHS services on a patient in terms of their life expectancy,
quality of life and the experience of their care, says a report from
the Office of Health Economics commission on NHS outcomes, performance
and productivity
The commission, set up in the autumn of 2006 to look at what patient
data should and could be routinely collected and analysed in the NHS,
concludes that measurement of patient outcomes is both “practical
and essential”.
It predicts collecting data will bring better outcomes for patients as
well as encourage better performance from providers and improve productivity
costs.
The commissioners recommend that generic measures of health outcomes — such
as those covering quality of life before, during and after treatment — should
be collected as well as other groups of data that are disease-specific.
Data for patients suffering from long-term conditions, such as chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease, should be collected at regular intervals,
it recommends.
The commission also proposes that routine information should be collected
about patients’ personal experience of their care, which should
address issues such as access to care, personal dignity, choice and the
support available for carers.
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