Summary

This is the first publication of the GP practice level outcome indicators (experimental statistics) and covers the period from April 2010 to March 2011, drawing on data from a variety of sources to provide users with the ability to compare and contrast at GP practice level. We have made a commitment to publish these data as part of the government's transparency agenda.

There are four main data sources, for this publication these are:

• NHS Comparators
• Hospital Episodes Statistics
• HSCIC Workforce
• Department of Health indicators

The aim of the government's transparency agenda, announced by the Prime Minister in July 2011, is to bring together into the public domain a range of data held by government departments on the performance of public services to the communities they serve. Within the NHS, GP practices are usually the main port of call for patients seeking health care advice or treatment.

The first phase of this project was launched in December 2011, and included the release of data for 250 GP practice indicators. This second phase, launched on 7 June 2012 includes:

• 20 new practice level indicators
• A single data file containing all GP practice indicators
• GP Practice iView integration for each GP practice indicator, enabling users to manipulate data and group indicators together.

Over time, the intention is to add more data as it becomes available.

We have produced a customised NHS iView tool, accessible to the public and others who wish to use it, to allow comparisons about the delivery of care by general practice in their community to be made. This information can be used by data intermediaries, such as NHS Choices and Public Health Observatories, to allow practice profiles to be further developed to inform patient choice and to support practices themselves to improve the delivery of their care and services for their patients.

Key facts

Total (England registered list) in the year April 2010-March 2011 there were:

• an average of 1.2 emergency overnight beds per 1,000 of the population
• 93.2 day case admissions per 1,000 of the population
• 25.6 elective inpatient admissions per 1,000 of the population
• 469.6 emergency bed days for long term conditions per 1,000 of the population, the mean length of stay was 4.3 days
• 19 per cent of first outpatient appointments were referred from GPs
• 2.9 per cent of elective procedures were not carried out
• 5.7 admissions per 1,000 of the population for long term neurological conditions, the mean length of stay was 10.6 days
• 7.0 per cent of patients did not attend their 1st outpatient appointment
• 5.1 per cent of total emergency admissions for under 19's, were related to diabetes, epilepsy or asthma