Consultant team data

As well as patient information, since the 1997-98 financial year each HES record includes the GMC code of the consultant who was responsible for the care of the patient. We are aware that although the consultant's personal GMC code is on the record it does not mean that he/she actually treated or even saw the patient.

Following discussions with the BMA and other professional bodies, we have agreed that this should be referred to as the code of the consultant team leader to make it clear that a team and not just an individual was involved as it will include:

• all the work carried out by the lead consultant
• work done by others under the guidance or supervision of the lead consultant, eg junior doctors, nurse practitioners
• those members of staff for whom the consultant is responsible
• other staff in other specialties who participate in team activities, eg anaesthetists

The introduction of the new NHS Care Record should ensure that additional clinical and clinician data can be added to HES in the future to make it more representative of how patient care actually takes place and all those who are involved.

Following the publication of the Kennedy Report, the Department of Health is committed to reporting at consultant team level in the future. How and when this will take place has yet to be confirmed. In 2001, a notice was issued for all consultants working for the NHS, which explains the data held on HES, the NHS-wide Clearing Service and the Workforce Census databases. It also explains the purposes to which the data will be put, plans for publication and the actions advised to consultants. Chief executives of trusts were asked to bring the notice to the attention of all their consultants. A protocol specifically to incorporate the dissemination of HES data including GMC code is being developed. This will instruct HES users on how any request for information involving consultant-identifiable data must be treated to ensure the security of the data and the confidentiality of the patient and the consultant. The BMA have been consulted on the drafting of this protocol. Meanwhile, we want to work with consultants to ensure that the information held on the HES database under their GMC code accurately reflects the care their team provides to patients.

There are three main projects under way using consultant team level data:

• The Consultant Enquiry System, which is a joint initiative with the NHSIA to develop an interrogation system for consultants to view their own data held on HES and compare it with similar, aggregated activity.
• Analysis of consultant clinical activity by the Centre for Health Economics at the University of York
• Joint project with the Royal College of Physicians to share HES data and the equivalent collected for the NHS in Wales with consultant physicians

Information about healthcare professionals is also held on the Shadow Health and Social Care Workforce Census database, which comprises three annual workforce censuses, covering General Practice, HCHS medical staff and HCHS non-medical staff.