Better informed patients is a key theme in ‘The power of information’ the Government’s information strategy for health and care – and doctors and nurses’ organisations have responded  warmly to this principle running through the strategy. They agree that the more empowered patients are about their care and the choices available to them, the more productive consultations can be.

Transforming care is also easier once the health service has better access to trusted information regarding care. A key commitment of the strategy involves offering patients and service-users the opportunity to give feedback, in ways that are convenient to them, directly to providers of services. This is a necessary part of improving quality, as well as crucial if health and care services are to be truly responsive to their clients.

Clinical leaders, such as Sir Bruce Keogh, Dr Charles Gutteridge and Dr Susan Hamer back the concept of chief clinical information officers in order to promote the importance of clinical information as the bedrock of quality care. Good information and knowledge systems are core to any high quality public service. Read more

by Dr Peter Short, National Clinical Lead for GPs

One of the firm commitments within the Information Strategy is the empowerment of service users and support for shared decision-making through better access to information, and specifically related to health records.

In England, this will first impact general practice records, with on-line access for those who wish to take advantage by 2015. So what does this mean for the organisations that will be responsible for delivering the vision and what is the ‘big picture’ in which records access contributes to better clinical outcomes and greater efficiency? Read more.

by Dr Henry Dowlen MBE, National Clinical Lead for Hospital Doctors

The Information Strategy asks us to find a way to connect systems to drive integrated care.  In doing this we need to consider three things. Firstly, information standards are key to meaningful interoperability of different systems. Secondly, there is an opportunity to think out of the box to come up with vibrant applications of promising technologies. However, thirdly, we could do an awful lot of good in secondary care simply by doing some basic things consistently well.

Working in emergency medicine can present some difficult challenges to those seeking to supply a solution for point of care capture of useful information. I have four different usernames and passwords to do the majority of my clinical work, and having to sit down at a desktop isn’t always helpful in the process of patient care in an emergency department. Read more.

Commitment to the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) is reinforced by the reference to it in the information strategy. Deployment of EPS is continuing well, with virtually all pharmacies and practices in the Isle of Wight and Bexley now offering EPS Release 2 to their patients.

To date 173 general practices, 4,859 community pharmacy sites and 20 dispensing appliance contractors are now ready to start using EPS Release 2. These are all marked on the EPS deployment map. So far 1,916,099 prescription items have been dispensed and a total of 410,3020 patient nominations have been set.

There is an increased interest from the NHS in re-establishing the process to grant PCTs Secretary of State Directions to implement EPS release 2 and we are talking to people inside and outside the NHS to understand their views before a decision can be made. We are also working with those who have already implemented EPS to gather key learning points and ensure these are applied to future deployments. The key learning points are available on the EPS Top Tips website.

The new NHS Information Service for Parents recently launched by the Prime Minister, will give new parents and parents-to-be information and advice they can trust, covering a wide range of issues related to staying healthy in pregnancy, preparing for birth and looking after their baby. The information will be tailored depending on the stage of pregnancy and age and development of their child.

Those signing up to the service will no longer be faced with information overload while surfing the internet, but will have relevant, timely NHS-approved advice sent directly to their phones and inboxes. This includes links to specially commissioned videos showing midwives demonstrating practical advice, such as bathing a baby, and parents discussing issues that have affected them and how they supported each other. Read more.

QMAS, the system currently used to calculate payments to GPs under the Quality & Outcomes Framework (QOF), is going to be replaced by a new service called the Calculating Quality Reporting Service (CQRS). CQRS is being built with flexibility in mind. It is currently in development and will be in place to calculate payments for GP practices across England from the 2013/14 financial year.

CQRS will report to the NHS Commissioning Board, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and GP practices. It will calculate achievement and payments on quality services delivered by GP practices, including the QOF, nationally-commissioned enhanced services and services commissioned locally from GP practices that go beyond the scope of the GP contract. It will also calculate achievement by CCGs against the Commissioning Outcomes Framework and can calculate quality rewards for CCGs.

Read more about CQRS online. Queries about CQRS should be emailed to cfh.cqrsfeedback@nhs.net