A national data collection system for flu involving nearly 3,000 UK practices will now provide information on a daily basis to improve planning in case of an influenza pandemic, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has announced.
The agency says the QFLU system, developed in conjunction with Nottingham University and GP computer suppliers EMIS, will generate daily figures on the number of people going to their GP suffering from a flu-like illness, the number of patients suffering from respiratory infections and the number of people given antivirals. Data from the previous evening is extracted from participating practices’ systems every 24 hours.
Dr Gillian Smith, senior regional epidemiologist at the HPA, told EHI Primary Care that improvements to the system will also mean the database can prove data down to primary care trust level, enabling PCTs to target resources where needed.
This month’s HPA annual conference heard that the database is thought to be the largest data surveillance system in Europe, providing data on almost 17m people.
Dr Smith said: “Our current system report data on a weekly basis which would be too late in the event of a flu pandemic. QFLU has been developed to be quick, efficient and easy to use by those who will be at the frontline.”
She said the system had been used after the Buncefield Fuel Depot fire last December to see whether the fire had led to any increases in respiratory illness in the surrounding area.
“After analysing the data, we were able to conclude that there wasn’t an increase in respiratory illnesses caused by the incident,” added Dr Smith.
Julia Hippisley-Cox, co-founder of QFLU and professor at the University of Nottingham said, “Pandemic flu is not an easy thing to prepare for. We are very grateful to the GPs who have signed up to provide this vital data, and we would invite others to join them. The information will help individual practices and PCTs to plan resources for their patients, as well as helping the government to plan on a national scale.” QFLU is a not-for-profit organisation and once the practice has activated the system to allow data transfer no further action is required. The HPA says the technology could be applied in other countries that have computerised primary care facilities.
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