Making better use of the data it collects will help the health service become more efficient and streamlined, resulting in the ability to predict need and target care.
The NHS has come a long way since Tim set up Dr Foster in 2000, and despite the challenges he sees ahead, has exciting opportunities to work with. As he says in the interview, the information agenda has been agreed upon. The next step needs to be the provision of meaningful indicators of quality that make sense to both professionals and the public.
Patient and public ignorance is no reason to avoid publishing measures of quality, says Tim. If anything, it should be a spur. Knowledge is needed in order to make comparisons, so for free choice to be successful, information needs to be made public that will allow ordinary people to make better judgments about the quality of their care.
In future, Tim believes that the health service will spend more time and money on the quality of care and less on administration. This means that people who are well will use the NHS less, but be contacted more, and people who are ill will have a more effective, thought-through pathway of care.
Listen to the interview here.
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