The Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) confirms that it has delayed the publication of consultant measures on its website.

Matt James, CEO of PHIN explains

“It was our ambition to publish a meaningful set of performance information for a minimum of 1,000 consultants by the end of July. Unfortunately there have been technological challenges with our platform and this has prevented some consultants from approving their measures, meaning that we have fallen short of our target. We take responsibility for this and apologise for the frustration which a number of consultants have experienced.

However, we are encouraged that more than 500 consultants have signed-off their measures for publication, and a significant number more have been actively working with their hospitals to identify and improve data quality. There has been a huge, positive shift from the sector towards greater transparency, and we are thankful to those consultants who have supported this process already.

We have now extended the data validation window until the end of August to allow more time for consultants to review and sign-off their performance measures. We will continue working with hospitals and consultant bodies to ensure that all consultants with private practice support this important initiative, allowing us to publish the first consultant performance measures. This is a unique process of reviewing and validating data covering over 750,000 episodes of admitted care delivered across the UK each year, and this will take time to get right.”

Once a minimum of 1,000 consultants have reviewed and signed off their performance information, PHIN will proceed with publication. It is hoped that this number will be met by Autumn 2018.

Consultants who treat private patients can review their practice data and approve their measures for publication using PHIN’s secure online portal – https://portal.phin.org.uk/