Nhs.uk can take on burden of information requests

Programme manager for the award winning portal, Judy Aldred, told E-Health Insider that local organisations often receive requests for information but if they supply good data to nhs.uk just once, the enquiries can be referred on. The growing collection of services on the site – created by the NHS Information Authority – include a postcode search for local health facilities and information on the performance of trusts in England.

“All the information on the website is available to third parties provided they can give a legitimate reason for using it,” said Aldred, explaining that requests for information uses such as commercial mailshots were refused.

Advanced discussions are currently being held with the Yellow Pages and ThomsonLocal services to widen dissemination of the information.

She was speaking at a conference in Birmingham held to launch the site as a the national portal to support Patient Choice and, in particular, to provide the information patients will need to make choices to be offered under the new electronic bookings service to be rolled out by 2005.

“Trusts have to commit resources to update the information, but they would have to have that [information] available anyway,” said Aldred who leads a team of 26 staff directly employed on the site and 2000 web editors around the NHS.

In her conference address she stressed the importance of the completeness and accuracy of data and reminded trusts that there was a facility available from nhs.uk to have five days help annually from an agency temp to update and input data. Funds are limited, however, and requests are met on a first-come-first-served basis. 

Aldred also asked trusts to sign up to be test beds for nhs.uk developments and to work locally to raise awareness of the benefits nhs.uk can bring now and in the future.

Health minister, John Hutton addressing the conference via video link, stressed the importance of information in supporting patient choice. He said: “We are all busy people.  We don’t want to have to trawl through website after website, publication after publication, or telephone helpline after helpline to find the information we need.  We want to be able to lay our hands on the information we needs as quickly as possible.

“This is where the nhs.uk website really comes into its own, not only as a rich source of information but also as a gateway to what exists elsewhere in the NHS.”

Hutton said the e-booking programme, announced last month, would offer patients a choice of four or five hospitals and booked appointments when they need a referral from their GP, but the government wanted to go further.

“The current national consultation exercise on choice equity and responsiveness is looking at radical proposals for increasing choice across a whole range of NHS services,” he said.

Back at the practical implementation level of e-booking, Clare Mitchell, programme manager for the NHS National Programme for IT, gave a briefing on the procurement of the e-booking technology but stressed that this was “a small part of the journey we have got to travel to make electronic booking work.”

Three challenges lay ahead, she said.  First, on the technology front, the national application had to be developed and all primary and secondary care systems had to be e-booking compliant. This involved working with local organisations to develop local solutions.

Second, significant change was needed to ensure organisations were ready for e-booking.  Third, an unprecedented marketing and communications programme would be needed.

“Most people in the NHS haven’t heard about the e-booking programme or the National Programme for IT.  There’s a huge amount of communication to do with the NHS audience,” she said.