News / South West signs up for benchmark services

Thirteen primary care trusts in the South West and the South West Strategic Health Authority have signed up to a service to benchmark clinical, operational and financial performance and share best practice.

The UK Performance Network, a partnership between HFMA Commercial Services (HCS) and analytic technology experts Mede International, launched in December 2008 and started signing up PCTs and providers. But this is the first strategic health authority area to join as a group. Nearly 25 organisations have signed up and other SHA-wide groups are in discussions.

The network provides subscribers with dashboards, status reports and alerts on their own key performance indicators. Using the web-based system, subscribers can also compare performance across other subscriber organisations and across the entire country using national data sets such as quality and outcomes framework data, Secondary Uses Service data and others.

In addition, users can drill down into the underpinning local data, analysing data at GP, specialty practice or patient level.

The data analysis service is wrapped in an HCS-provided educational programme that aims to support the identification and adoption of best practice across all stages of the care pathway including primary care, prescribing and secondary care as well as local level public health inequalities indicators. Key performance indicators initially adopted by commissioners in the South West include inappropriate admission rates, total length of stay (including community) and stroke patient management.

PCT network lead Philip Grant said the expansion of the PCT network in the South West was timely given the cost improvement challenges facing commissioners. ‘We’re looking forward to the opportunities to support PCTs in progressing their productivity and efficiency agenda,’ he said.