How NHS Digital collects and uses (open) GP data
The potential of open data for improving healthcare in Europe is
becoming more and more evident. That open data can play a major role
in delivering the best health service possible to support patient care
has been proven by NHS Digital
[https://digital.nhs.uk/blog/data-points-blog/2022/the-past-present-and-future-of-our-gp-data-service],
the UK´s National Health Service.

NHS Digital supports NHS staff at work, helps people get the most
appropriate care, and uses the nation’s health data to drive
research and transform services. They do this by using the tech
General Practice Extraction Service (GPES). GPES collects general
practice (GP) data, including information on food parcels,
prescriptions, and mental health services. This data helps planning
and delivering services as well as supporting vital research. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, GP data was collected and
used to help to identify, quickly and accurately, people in need of
specific treatments. By creating a list with patients who were
clinically vulnerable, ad-hoc services could be offered. Moreover, GP
data enabled a smooth vaccine roll-out, with the data being used to
define the patient cohorts to be invited for vaccinations. This was
especially important for patients clinically vulnerable and those with
underlying health conditions, both at higher risk of serious disease
and mortality. Thus, collecting and using GP data protected millions
of people and saved thousands of lives.

Besides NHS Digital, there are plenty of further examples of how open
data support the delivery of key healthcare services in Europe.
Another example is the EVapp [https://www.evapp.org/]: A Belgian app
that uses (open) data to save the lives of citizens suffering from a
cardiac arrest. As soon as someone has a suspicion of cardiac arrest
and the Belgian emergency number is called, the emergency centre
forwards this message to the ambulance and to EVapp. The app then
automatically alerts five citizens with first aid certificates who
happen to be in near the victim. 

Another example of open data ´for health` is the SNS Transparency
Portal
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/use-cases/portugal_-_sns.pdf]
used in Portugal to aggregate health data from various entities across
the country and make these datasets available. That allows citizens
to retrieve information on the locations of the nearest hospital,
health center, or pharmacy, as well as on user fees, cross-border
healthcare, and waiting times. 

Further examples of how (open) data are leveraged in the health and
healthcare field can be found on data.europa.eu, where different use
cases
[https://data.europa.eu/en/impact-studies/use-cases?keywords=&country=All&region=All&sector=Health&type=All&items_per_page=10]
and datasets
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets?locale=en&minScoring=0&categories=HEAL&page=1]
related to health are showcased. 

Also, do not miss out our latest data story on ´The value of health
data and its role in Europe`
[https://data.europa.eu/en/datastories/value-health-data-and-its-role-europe],
which gives insights into the pivotal role that health (open) data
have in Europe. 

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Publication Date/Time
2022-10-12T07:00:00+00:00
Find out how open data is used to create digital tools and services to
deliver high-quality healthcare in the UK