QSurveillance practice Information Sheet

Purpose of document

This document invites EMIS LV practices to join the QSurveillance scheme which is a near real time surveillance scheme which will collect, analyse and report on rates infectious diseases as well influenza related conditions, flu vaccine and pneumococcal vaccine uptake.

QSurveillance already has the capability of providing timely data in the face of emerging public health problems (eg gastroenteritis which could result from widespread flooding).I t can also respond to chemical incidents, concerns about safety of medication or report in extreme weather conditions (eg during a heat wave) to help estimate the scale of the problem and plan a response.

Background

EMIS and the University of Nottingham currently provide three not-for-profit information upload services in addition to the main QRESEARCH database (http://www.qresearch.org)

• QFLU – daily and weekly data set needed to alert to and manage a flu pandemic
• QPN – annual survey of uptake of pneumococcal vaccine
• QVTP – monthly service of uptake of influenza vaccine

Overall, almost 4,000 EMIS practices take part in at least one of these closely related schemes and the vast majority of practices contribute to all three. Now these have become established and valued services, we would like to combine them into one service called expanded service (QSurveillance) with a single sign up.

What data would be extracted and analysed?

QSurveillance only extracts summary data which is aggregated by age and sex (ie counts of patients who have the conditions of interest in a given time period). No individual patient data is extracted. There is no risk to patient confidentiality. The reports are run at midnight each night and extracted onto a central server at EMIS and from there to a secure server based in Nottingham University. The timetable for the flu vaccine queries can be found in appendix 1. A list of the current indicators can be found in the appendix2.

In addition, QSurveillance summary data has also been deigned so that it can rapidly assess the safety and effectiveness of new medications (for example, a newly developed flu vaccine developed rapidly during a pandemic or where there is an unexpected public health issue).

How would decisions about additional data be taken and implemented?

In the event of an unexpected urgent public health situation requiring increased surveillance, we will discuss the additional data items with the relevant government authority. For example, for infectious disease or chemical incidents, this will be the Health Protection Agency. For medication safety it will be the Department of Health or Medicine Health Regulatory Authority. The QRESEARCH advisory board will be consulted and Trent MREC where appropriate. The additional indicators will be added to the table on the website which lists all the current indicators. The patch system will be used to notify practices of the reason for the extraction (for example, the floods in the South West) and the additional data items needed.

All analyses will be independently undertaken, reviewed by MHRA where appropriate and publically available in accordance with our research governance framework.

Is there any risk to practice or patient confidentiality?

No patient identifiable data is extracted and there is no risk to patient confidentiality. We will only submit practice identifiable data on flu vaccine and pneumococcal vaccine to the Department of Health\Health Protection Agency as with the QPN and QVTP schemes.

We will analyse and report on other data for infectious diseases at PCT level and summary reports will be sent to the Health Protection Agency for inclusion in their weekly or daily bulletins. No practices can or will be identified in published reports since only summary data are reported.

http://www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/primary_care_surveillance/QResearch.htm

How is QSurveillance funded?

QSurveillance is funded by both the Health Protection Agency and the Department of Health and run as a not-for-profit venture. It reports to the Department of Health and from there to Ministers.

Do practices receive any payments for taking part in QSurveillance?

QSurveillance is a public health surveillance system which is run by EMIS and the University of Nottingham on a not-for-profit basis. Practices are not paid for taking part and do not need to pay to join and we do not use the data to determine practice payments. In the last two years, some PCTs have use the nationally collected data on flu vaccine and pneumococcal vaccine submitted to the Department of Health  to inform practice payments and it is for each practice to check local arrangements with their PCT.

What do I need to do to take part in QSurveillance?

If your practice is already taking part in QFLU and either QPN or QVTP and you would like to continue, then you do not need to do anything.

If your practice is not taking part in at least two upload service then you need to activate the system by doing the following:  

• Selecting  ST and I (Information upload services).
• The following menu will appear. Not all services are on all sites.