Using Health Informatics to Improve Neurological Care
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Using Health Informatics to Improve Neurological Services
IRAS ID
255676
Contact name
Hedley Emsley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
n/a, n/a
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 7 months, 1 days
Research summary
Attention was brought to the state of neurological services in 2011 by a National Audit Office (NAO) report entitled ‘Services for people with neurological conditions’. The issues highlighted by this report include delays in diagnoses, incorrect GP referrals, geographical inequalities in access to consultant neurological care, and the lack of good quality data on neurological conditions.
Previous studies in other areas such as cardiology have demonstrated that routinely collected patient data can be used to investigate issues like these. Research has been conducted into areas including re-visit patterns in outpatient clinics, and the effect that diagnosis has on appointment attendance.
This study will use routinely collected information from outpatient neurology appointments linked with data extracted from the hospital database. We aim to use similar techniques to the previously mentioned studies to help lay the foundations for addressing some of the issues raised by the National Audit Office report.
Areas which will be explored include an analysis of diagnosis by geographical area and GP; an investigation of appointment types and patient pathways; and an exploration of appointment attendance, non-attendance and cancellation. This will provide evidence for future service redesign and the provision of more efficient care.
REC name
North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/NW/0178
Date of REC Opinion
3 Apr 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion