From data to information to transformation

The new audit and financial regimes of service line reporting and performance by results are changing the data landscape in the NHS. We are now getting to the stage where data is clean enough and data management tools intuitive enough for NHS trusts to start getting real clinical engagement.

This somewhat rosy view does not come from a system supplier keen to sell in a new product or even the upper reaches of the health service’s policy making, regulatory or information bodies.

No, it comes from none other than Jonathan Fielden, chair of the British Medical Association’s consultant’s committee. Speaking recently about the need for clinicians to become involved in publishing outcome data, he said: “Clinicians want accurate data on how to improve their services.