The Healthcare Commission is today launching a website to give NHS patients and the public access to its entire database on NHS trusts.
The website accompanies the launch of the Commission’s annual health check results in which all of the 570 NHS trusts in England will be rated on their quality of services and the state of their finances.
It is designed to allow anyone to check information about their local NHS services. It also allows comparison of NHS trusts by area and by specialty.
Paul Targett, who designed and manages the website for the Commission, said: “Part of the whole strategy has been to make the results [of the annual health check] more usable. We have really tried to go down the road of making this as relevant as possible for patients and the public.
“We are not trying to be a health portal but we do have a unique role as a health regulator and need to be effective.”
The site carries 70,000 categories of information and over 500,000 individual data entries, he said. This includes information from the annual health check as well as reports on specific care areas carried out by the Commission, for example children’s services.
During its development the Commission worked with focus groups and road tested prototype versions with the public to make sure it was usable.
Anna Walker, chief executive of the Commission joked: “We swept people up off the street in Watford and asked them what they thought of our website. They were not very complimentary the first time.”
Mr Targett added: “We are not quite at the average reading age but we have worked very hard to get rid of jargon and not to make assumptions about what people will understand.”
On the front page is a search facility that allows users to find their local hospital or PCT using their own postcode or by using part of the hospital name or location. For example, a search under “Kent” brought up PCTs and acute trusts countywide.
At this top level, the site lists the bald health check ratings for individual trusts – from excellent through good, fair and down to weak for both quality of services and use of resources.
From this point users can mine down into the information. Clicking on an organisation brings up six questions patients might want to ask about the trust and then sets about answering them. It tells users what the site can tell them and what it can’t.
“This was something that the public told us was very important when we developed the site,” said Mr Targett.
The six questions are based on national standards and cover things such as “Will I be treated with dignity?” and “How long will I have to wait?” Clicking down through layers of information brings up a trust’s performance against standards and targets. Some is visually displayed using ticks and crosses or barometers comparing individual performance to that made nationally.
The site allows users to compare information at various levels, including by region and by individual trust. Datasets can be downloaded.
The Commission envisages the site being used by patients and the public to find out about local services. It can also be used by patient support organisations and campaigning groups.
“We have run 10 regional workshops bringing it to the attention of people like overview and scrutiny committees as we feel it could be very useful,” said Mr Targett.
Ms Walker acknowledged that the website has a lot of potential to support patient choice but said: “The primary driver has not been the choice agenda. It is a recognition that we have a wealth of information and we need to make that useful for the person on the street.”
Mr Targett expects traffic to be heavy this week. “We are prepared for thousands of users. We have tested to 100 users in the second. Above that and you have to question the investment needed for the value provided.”
If his predictions prove wrong and traffic is heavier than expected, the site will ask users to come back later.
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