CAN GENERAL-PRACTICE PROVIDE USEFUL INFORMATION - EVALUATION OF A PRIMARY HEALTH-CARE INFORMATION PROJECT IN NORTHERN ENGLAND

Objective - To develop a computerised primary care information gatheri ng network capable of producing reliable risk factor and morbidity dat a from a wide diversity of general practice software systems. Method - Fourteen practices from the Wakefield and Pontefract district collabo rated in sharing information and solving technical difficulties associ ated with collecting data on coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors , diabetes, and asthma. Practices also participated in rheumatology an d mental health needs assessment projects. Results - Data could be tra nsferred by diskette in only five of the systems and paper reports had to be used to post process the data into a standard format. Not all d ata were complete or comparable. Crude estimates only of smoking preva lence and smoking cessation interventions were possible, as well as of age and sex specific prevalences for asthma and diabetes. The rheumat ology health needs assessment, using the prospective collection of con sultation based data, highlighted an unmet need for rheumatology servi ces in the community. Conclusions - Although practices have been willi ng to devote considerable time and effort to the project, the diversit y of software has precluded a simple methodology for data collection a nd analysis. The amount of useful information retrieved so far, has be en limited but a number of important lessons have been learned which h ave implications for similar information projects and the use of prima ry care information in service planning.