General practitioners’ assessments of hospital quality and performance

An increasing amount of data on the quality and clinical performance of NHS hospital Trusts is entering the public domain, however there has been no research looking at how this information is used by general practitioners. A telephone questionnaire survey using a random sample of general practitioners found that less than a quarter of general practitioners used published clinical outcomes data to inform their assessments of the quality of hospital services. Only a small proportion discussed these data with their patients. Nevertheless, some latent demand for this type of information was detected. Those responsible for publishing such data should develop data sets and design dissemination strategies that are capable of engaging the attention of general practitioners. Given the sheer volume of information targeted at general practice it is advisable that the views and opinions of general practitioners are incorporated in future developments.