With less than a year until PHIN publishes performance measures, we are starting to share data with consultants and hospitals. Lots of hospitals are already submitting data to PHIN and making strides to improve the quality of their data, where issues are identified. It’s essential that both hospitals and consultants have plenty of time to access and review their data long before the April 2017 when our full website will go live. This is the only way that patients will be reassured that the information is complete and accurate.

PHIN’s newly developed secure online portal enables hospitals and consultants to review the data to make sure it’s an accurate portrayal of their practice. For the portal to successfully engage consultants in checking their data, it needs to be as simple to use as possible. It is therefore being piloted with selected member hospitals and around 200 consultants.

They are being invited to test the system and review their data during May and June 2016. The feedback will help us refine the experience and the support that goes with it.

The main invitation for all consultants to review the data about their practice will commence late in the autumn.

In the autumn the portal will contain both the data and the performance measures as they will appear on the website, and users can delve into how the metrics have been calculated. It will also provide valuable benchmarking and comparison information, along with healthcare market insights.

In the preparation for the pilot of the online portal, PHIN has written to consultants jointly with the CMA to bring them up to speed with progress towards publication and when they will be invited to participate.