Family Practitioner Services

Background Quality ReportGeneral Medical Service StatisticsCommunity Pharmacy StatisticsCommunity Dentistry StatisticsOphthalmic Statistics

Reissued June 2020

Published by BSO Family Practitioner Services Information Unit,2 Franklin St, Belfast BT2 8DQ

Responsible StatisticiansGeneral Medical Services Gerard McMullan

Gerard.McMullan@hscni.net

Dental and Ophthalmic Jennifer McCreaJennifer.McCrea@hscni.net

Community Pharmacy Andrew KerrAndrew.Kerr2@hscni.net

©2018, 2020 Crown Copyright. This publication may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium. Any material used must be acknowledged, and the title of the publication specified.

This publication was first issued in October 2018

Open Government LicenceAll content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated.

ContentsPreface............................................................................................................4Introduction....................................................................................................5

Context..............................................................................................................................5Purpose of this document.................................................................................................6

Assessment of statistics against quality dimensions and principles......7Relevance.........................................................................................................................7Accuracy and Reliability..................................................................................................10Timeliness and punctuality..............................................................................................15Accessibility and clarity...................................................................................................15Coherence and comparability.........................................................................................16Trade-offs between output quality components..............................................................22Assessment of user needs and perceptions...................................................................23Performance, cost and respondent burden.....................................................................23Confidentiality, transparency and security......................................................................24

Responsible Statisticians...........................................................................25

PrefaceThis document constitutes a combined data quality report for annual and quarterly

statistics issued by Family Practitioner Services (FPS) covering General Medical Services,

Dental Services, Pharmaceutical Services and Ophthalmic services.

Prior to 2020, the annual statistics for these areas were issued in the FPS Compendium

Report, which covered all aspects of family practitioner activity in Northern Ireland. They

are now issued on an individual basis to improve their timeliness and punctuality.

The following text was drafted prior to the discontinuance of the Compendium Report. It

has been reissued with minor amendments, pending the production of individual quality

reports for each area, because there are no material changes which affect the underlying

quality assessment.

All references to the Compendium Report should be read as referring to each individual

publication.

IntroductionThis document constitutes a data quality report for the Family Practitioner Services (FPS)

Compendium Report and in-year quarterly updates.

This report is derived from administrative data from a range of sources. These are:-

FPS Payment Systems for:

o Pharmaceutical Services

o Dental Services

o Ophthalmic Services

o General Medical Services; and

The National Health Application and Infrastructure System (NHAIS).

Information has been extracted from the live payment systems following the close of the

financial payment year (or relevant in-year quarters – ending March 31 st, June 30th,

September 30th and December 31st).

The statistics have then been compiled and quality assured by independent statisticians,

on secondment to BSO’s FPS Information Unit, from the Northern Ireland Statistics and

Research Agency (NISRA) in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Context The FPS Compendium Report is a summary of high level statistics relating to family

practitioners in Northern Ireland. The data in the report relates to claims made by family

practitioners for services provided as well as summary information about the practitioners

themselves. In addition, some demographic breakdowns are provided in relation to

patients registered with a NI GP.

The Family Practitioner Services division within BSO provides a range of services to

General Medical, Dental, Ophthalmic and Pharmaceutical practitioners across Northern

Ireland.

The administrative information which is produced as a by-product of these activities

provides information on FPS payments as well as on service provision and the relative

health of the population at NI and sub-regional level. It complements official statistics

relating to other aspects of the NI health care system, namely secondary, community and

social released by the Department of Health.

Purpose of this documentThis document aims to provide users with an evidence based assessment of the quality of

data held within the FPS Compendium Report by reporting against the nine European

Statistical System (ESS) quality dimensions1 and principles appropriate to this output.

In doing so, this meets our obligation to comply with the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA)

Code of Practice for Statistics2, particularly the pillar of Quality, principle Q3 Assured

Quality which states:

Producers of statistics and data should explain clearly how they assure themselves that

statistics and data are accurate, reliable, coherent and timely.

It is a live document and will evolve and include additional material as further intelligence

is gathered against each of the 9 ESS dimensions.

It is anticipated that a planned ‘Quality Assessment of Administrative Data’ (QAAD) will

provide further valuable information and this will be included in later versions of the report.

1 The original quality dimensions are: relevance, accuracy and reliability, timeliness and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, and coherence and comparability; these are set out in Eurostat Statistical Law. However more recent quality guidance from Eurostat includes some additional quality principles on: output quality trade-offs, user needs and perceptions, performance cost and respondent burden, and confidentiality, transparency and security.

2 UKSA Code of Practice for Statistics: http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/assessment/code-of-practice/index.html

Assessment of statistics against quality dimensions and principlesRelevanceThis dimension covers the degree to which the product meets user need in both coverage

and content.

The FPS Information Unit launched an online survey using Citizen Space on 21st February

2018 and another in March 2019. The surveys invited users/potential users of summary

statistics related to Primary Care Services to provide feedback to help shape our statistical

publications. The initial survey closed on the March 13th 2018 and received 86 responses

while the follow up survey received 20 responses.

The findings of the user engagement surveys have been published here and highlighted

that the formal and regular publication of these statistics would help address an important

information gap. The surveys also informed the types of analysis users wished to have

access to, and in what format. This has informed the development of the report.

BSO had historically released a statistical compendium, which ceased following the

2007/08 publication. The revival of this output had been identified by internal customers as

a high priority in order that there would be a definitive source of quality assured figures

related to FPS activity.

A new official statistics Compendium Report was released for 2017/18 and 2018/19. In

order to cater for different levels of user need, the reports have now been split by FPS

Service area and are intended to be a high level summary of activity, supplemented by

charts and commentary, with the detailed statistical tables which underpin the reports

included in annexes. More detailed breakdowns can be provided for each payment area

on request. FPS Information Unit will continue engagement with customers to assess the

extent to which user needs have been met and what further analyses and outputs would

be useful.

BSO was specified in legislation as a Producer of Official Statistics in the Official Statistics

Order (Northern Ireland) 2012. The information held by the Family Practitioners Services is

of interest both to the Government and wider public as it relates to the provision of primary

care in Northern Ireland.

GP Payment and Medical Registration Information The information provided covers certain elements of claims made by GP Practices,

demographic characteristics of GPs in Northern Ireland, and also the high level information

on the patient registrations at GP Practice level. GP’s maintain their own clinical systems

so FPS does not hold information on the treatments or medical histories of patients.

The registration of patients at GP practices provides an extremely useful information

source for tracking changes in the size and demographics of the population of Northern

Ireland. This information is used to feed into estimates of internal and external migration

and to update the official NI Mid-Year Population Estimates. It is also extremely valuable

for maintaining the quality of the NI Electoral Register.

NISRA Demography branch are the body responsible body for producing NI population

statistics. Whilst the BSO compendium duplicates some of this information, its focus is on

population at GP practice level to inform information on GP service provision and

workload.

Dental Payment Information This information is derived from the FPS dental payment system. It includes all health

service dental treatments carried out in primary care in Northern Ireland that are submitted

to the BSO for payment. The information does not include any dental treatments in

secondary care settings or any treatments carried out privately by health service dentists.

The dental payment data can be used as an indication of the oral health of Northern

Ireland. It also helps inform the official NI Mid-Year Population Estimates by showing that a

person has been active within the health service in a specified time period.

This report contains information on primary care dentistry in Northern Ireland at a national

and local level. This publication includes facts and figures on the number of people who

see a primary care dentist, the volume and type of treatment they receive and the number

of dentists.

Ophthalmic Payment Information This information is derived from the FPS ophthalmic payment system. It includes all health

service sight tests, vouchers dispensed and replacement or repairs carried out in primary

care in Northern Ireland that are submitted to the BSO for payment.

The information does not include any ophthalmic activity in secondary care settings or any

treatments carried out privately by health service opticians. The ophthalmic payment data

can be used as an indication of the eye health of Northern Ireland. It also helps inform the

official NI Mid-Year Population Estimates by showing that a person has been active within

the health service in a specified time period.

This report contains information on primary care opticians in Northern Ireland at a national

and local level. This publication includes facts and figures on the number of people who

had a health service sight test, voucher dispensed and number of repairs and

replacements along with the number of opticians.

Pharmaceutical Payment Information The pharmaceutical payment information can be used to understand prescribing patterns

across Northern Ireland at varying levels and also as a proxy for morbidity. For example,

information on dispensed prescription items by BNF chapter provides an indication on

patient morbidity by condition type.

The data is derived from the FPS pharmacy payment system, all prescriptions prescribed

in primary care in Northern Ireland that are subsequently dispensed by a pharmacist,

dispensing doctor or appliance supplier and are finally submitted to the BSO for payment

are included. The data will include items that have been ordered on a stock form, but

excludes hospice items.

The information does not include prescribing in a secondary care setting for example

medications received while in hospital.

Accuracy and ReliabilityThis dimension covers the statistics proximity between an estimate and the unknown true

value.

GP Payment and Medical Registration InformationThe GP Registered Population, number of GPs and number of GP Practices tends to

fluctuate – while coverage of statistics is accurate at a point in time, there may be lags in

changes to various data systems. For example, practices may be in the process of

merging at the time when data is captured for the production of statistics. With regard to

patient registrations, there may be a small but unquantifiable amount of error related to

patient characteristics and addresses. However this is not thought to be material.

Payment information is based on the payments processed in a given year and not the cost

of the service provided in that year. Payment information for a given year may include

outstanding claims from previous years. It will not include claims that have yet to be

received for the year being reported on.

Dental Payment InformationAll information is based on the data supplied by the dentist at the time of the claim, and

only includes claims paid by BSO after validation. If any errors made by practitioners in

claiming for treatment provided are identified by BSO they will be corrected in the next

available payment month. Around 1% of dental claims are adjusted each month due to

inaccuracies.

Ophthalmic Payment InformationAll information is based on the data supplied by the opticians at the time of the claim and

only claims which are paid by BSO after validation are included.

Pharmaceutical Payment InformationAll information is based on data collected during the pharmaceutical payment process

where prescriptions have been submitted to BSO for reimbursement. Prescriptions are

scanned and subject to a rigorous automatic and manual validation process to ensure

accurate payments are made. If BSO identifies any errors made by the dispensing body in

claiming for the pharmaceutical products and services, then these will be corrected in the

next available payment month.

Reliability/known data quality issuesGP Payment and Medical Registration InformationFigures presented for GPs refer to Unrestricted Principals or Equivalents (UPEs) and

Salaried GPs and do not include Locums. GP numbers are based on headcount and do

not therefore reflect changes in working patterns. GP practice characteristics vary in terms

of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) number of GPs assigned to a practice, number of sites a

practice operates from, and number of patients registered to a practice.

GP Registered Population information is captured at the end of the quarter when a

patient’s registration application has been completed and processed by BSO.

There may be a lag between a patient presenting themselves at a GP Practice and

completion of registration. This lag may be greater for patients who have to provide

additional documentation as proof of entitlement to services. Similarly for deductions, there

may be a lag in removing individuals from the index of registered patients.

There are differences between the figures for GP registered patients and residential

population. At 30th June 2019 the number of individuals on the index of registered patients

was approximately 5% higher than the June 2019 Northern Ireland mid-year population

estimate.

This discrepancy can arise from a number of factors, for example, time lags in removing

patients from GP lists following death or emigration, Cross Border Workers registered with

a Northern Ireland GP, or registered patients not completing the 2011 Census.

BSO Payment towards GP Services presented in this report refers to the payments that

BSO has processed on behalf of Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) towards the

overall cost of GP Services in Northern Ireland. This expenditure relates to payments

processed in a given year and not the cost of the service provided in that year.

Dental Payment InformationA new dental payment system was introduced in 2015 which incorporated greater

validation than the previous system. Therefore claims which were payable in the old

payment system may not pass the stricter validation in the new system.

However, the new payment system had many technical issues in the first 18 months which

may have delayed payments on certain types of claims until those issues were resolved.

The quality of the dental data is continually improved. As issues are addressed in the

system, and where possible the historical data is corrected, payments are either returned

to or taken from dentists for the inaccuracies.

The payment system will carry out a number of validations to ensure the payment claims

submitted meet the criteria laid down within the Statement of Dental Remuneration. It will

check that the claims are not duplicates, the dentist is eligible for payment, and cross-

check the treatment against the previous history of treatments for each patient to ensure

the claim is eligible to be paid. Some of these queries are found to be mistakes in the

claim and are resolved. Others are not upheld and the payment left as is, and a few are

errors made during processing. Any amendments are made to the dental payment system

and the data quality improved.

All data is based on payment date. However many treatments, particularly orthodontic

treatments, can take many years to finish. Practitioners have up to 6 months from finishing

treatments to submit their claims for payments. Therefore payments-based data may not

always be reflective of when the treatment was carried out.

Ophthalmic Payment Information At present the ophthalmic payment system does not capture the Health and Care Number

(HCN) of patients. In order to produce statistics by patient’s home addresses a matching

exercise was carried out using the patient’s forename, surname and date of birth to the

index of registered patients to obtain the postcode for local area statistics. The matching

rates are shown in Table 1 on the following page.

Financial Year

All Records

% Matched

2013/14 684,203 76.52014/15 694,005 83.42015/16 708,608 88.22016/17 723,759 93.62017/18 707,237 97.4

Table 1: Matching rate for patient HCNs on the Ophthalmic Payment System, 2013/14 – 2017/18

Given the reduced matching rates in earlier years, it was decided that data could only be

reliably produced for 2017/18 onwards. This should not be an issue in future years.

For the exemption reason tables, occasionally the exemption reason is not recorded in the

payment system. To reduce the number of unknowns in cases where the person was aged

under 16 or 60 or over, they were moved into either the Child or Over 60 category.

Those aged between 16 and 18 who had an unknown exemption were moved into the

Student category. In 2017/18, 117 records were moved to one of those categories.

All data is based on payment date. However practitioners have up to 6 months to submit

sight claims, and up to 3 months to submit voucher and repair/replacement claims for

payments. Therefore data may not always reflect when the activity was carried out.

Pharmaceutical Payment InformationPatient information is captured where a prescription form has been successfully scanned

and automatically coded. In the past, BSO had experienced a reduction in scan rates

resulting in around 25% of prescription items not having attributed patient information in

2017/18 and 2018/19. However, this has recently improved and in 2019/20 almost 90% of

prescription items had attributed patient information. This has meant that at most, this

proportion of prescriptions will have a geographical area or patient profile assigned. The

historic reduction in scanning quality was widespread across Northern Ireland and not just

isolated to any particular areas.

In order to assess the representativeness of the resultant sample, for those prescriptions

that were GP prescribed, LGD and Health Trust were assigned to items based upon the

origin of the prescribing GP practice. Tables 2 and 3 provide the respective scan rates for

each LGD and Trust.

Health Trust % Scan Rate

Belfast 88.8Northern 87.5South Eastern 91.1Southern 90.0Western 89.0Northern Ireland

89.2

Table 2: GP Prescription Scan Rate by Local Commissioning Group (Health Trust) – 2019/20

LGD % Scan Rate

Antrim & Newtownabbey 89.0Ards & North Down 90.8Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon

90.9

Belfast 88.6Causeway Coast & Glens 87.2Derry City & Strabane 87.2Fermanagh & Omagh 92.5Lisburn & Castlereagh 90.7Mid & East Antrim 86.5Mid Ulster 88.5Newry, Mourne & Down 91.2Northern Ireland 89.2

Table 3: GP Prescription Scan Rate by Local Government District (LGD) – 2019/20

At Health Trust level, the scan rate varied from just under 2 percentage points below the

NI average in the Northern LCG to almost 2 percentage points above in the South Eastern

Trust. Variability was slightly more at LGD level with rates ranging from just under 3

percentage points below NI average for Mid & East Antrim over 3 percentage points above

in Fermanagh & Omagh.

It is important to note, however, that this analysis can only provide an approximation of

whether the scanned prescriptions are representative of the NI population as not all

patients will reside in the same area as the GP practice which they attend – particularly in

Belfast. Given this important caveat, and the figures below, there is no strong evidence to

suggest significant bias in the prescription sample. The limitation should be borne in mind,

however, when comparing absolute numbers across LGDs/Trusts and it is preferable to

calculate percentage rates when making geographical or demographic comparisons.

Timeliness and punctualityTimeliness refers to the time gap between publication and the reference period.

Punctuality refers to the gap between planned and actual publication dates.

The first iteration of the compendium was released in October 2018 and covered data for

financial year 2017/18. Releases since then have been in June of each year when the data

for the entire year are complete – representing a 3 month lag between publication and the

activity period to which the data relate.

The quarterly updates of key report tables are released within 2 months of the data

becoming available although it may be possible to improve upon this once the series is

established. The quarterly updates have a provisional status and are finalised at year end.

Accessibility and clarity Accessibility is the ease with which users are able to access the data, also reflecting the

format in which the data are available and the availability of supporting information. Clarity

refers to the quality and sufficiency of the metadata, illustrations and accompanying

advice.

The report will be initially published in PDF format on the BSO website along with

accompanying tables presented in Excel. The main report contains a mixture of summary

tables, charts, infographics and commentary intended to appeal to a wide user base.

The Excel tables will allow users to perform secondary analysis on the actual data and

each set contains a separate tab with metadata.

Further breakdowns of the data are available on request and contact details for this have

been provided in the main report. Over time it is intended to produce the tables in CSV and

other open data formats and to explore alternative formats for the main report itself.

More detailed user notes are then provided as a separate tab in each of the Excel table

sets which accompany the main report. All of this is then supplemented by the information

contained in this Background Quality Report which will be further enhanced when the

Quality of Administrative Data (QAAD) assessment has been completed.

The initial compendium reports were produced in MS Publisher, we have moved the

service level area reports to MS Word for accessibility purposes as audio readers can read

the reports better.

Coherence and comparability Coherence is the degree to which data which have been derived from different sources or

methods but refer to the same topic or similar. Comparability is the degree to which data

can be compared over time and domain.

Coherence

General We are not aware of other sources of NI data relating to FPS activity/payments covered by

this report nor in respect of the primary care workforce. This, however, will be kept under

review and the section will be expanded in the event that alternative data sources are

identified.

GP Registered Patient List The report also contains patient demographic information presented by Local

Commissioning Group (Health Trust) and Local Government District (LGD). These data

are based on the GP registered population as opposed to resident population. While the

index of patients registered with a GP Practice informs population statistics for Northern

Ireland this is not the remit for collecting this data. For Northern Ireland Population

Statistics click here.

Patient information is presented by Local Commissioning Group (Health Trust), Local

Government District (LGD), gender and age group but not at GP Practice level. Quarterly

counts of registered patients at GP Practice level are published here. This quarterly

information, while presenting counts at practice level, does not include demographic

breakdowns.

Comparability

GMS General Medical Service comparisons are presented comparing Northern Ireland with GB regions for GP Practices, GP Workforce and GP Registered Population.

England’s ‘General Practice Workforce’ reports are published by NHS Digital and are available here.

Scotland’s ‘General Practice’ reports are published by Public Health Scotland and are available here.

Wales’ ‘General Medical Services’ reports are published by StasWales and are available here.

GP comparison figures for England, Wales and Scotland are not the headline figures presented in their publications but rather data on the appropriate contract type to match what we present for Northern Ireland. In the case of England we are reporting on all qualified permanent GPs (excluding Registrars and Locums). For Wales their Retainer Count was added to their headline figures, while for Scotland the Performer Registrar/ST contract type was removed from their headline figures.

Figures presented for GPs are headcount so comparisons should be treated with caution as this is not a true measure of Full Time Equivalent number of GPs and will not reflect any difference in working patterns between NI and GB countries.

GP Practices vary in size in terms of number of GPs who operate from them and patients registered to them meaning that comparisons with GB countries should also be treated with caution.

Dental Comparisons with England

NHS Digital produces dental statistics on activity, patients seen and workforce which are

available here.

England operates a different payment system to Northern Ireland. Treatments are grouped

together into bands and patients don’t pay for individual treatment items. Instead they pay

band rates which are as follows:

• Band 1: Check-up and simple treatment (such as examination, x-rays and

prevention advice);

• Band 2 – mid-range treatments such as fillings, extractions, and root canal work in

addition to Band 1 work;

• Band 3 – includes complex treatments such as crowns, dentures, and bridges in

addition to Band 1 and Band 2 work;

Urgent – a specified set of treatments including up to two extractions and one filling

provided to a patient where prompt care and treatment is provided where oral

health is likely to deteriorate significantly, or the person is in severe pain by reason

of their oral condition; care and treatment is provided to prevent significant

deterioration or address severe pain; and

Other – Courses of treatment which include the following procedures do not attract

a patient charge: arrest of bleeding, bridge repair, denture repair, removal of

sutures and prescription issues

In some of the English tables further breakdowns on the bands are provided and it is

possible to compare the numbers of x-rays, fillings and extractions in England with

Northern Ireland.

Data on patients seen in England looks at adults seen in the previous 24 months and

children seen in the previous 12 months. Northern Ireland data is presented as patients

seen in each financial year. Unlike Northern Ireland, in England there is no registration

payment associated with seeing a patient.

English workforce statistics are split into General Dental Services, Personal Dental

Services and Trust-led Dental Services. These groupings do not exist in Northern Ireland.

England also produces data on the number of joiners and leavers each year.

This is not possible in Northern Ireland as dentists have many different contract numbers

and these for various reasons during the year. For example, a dentist may work across

many different practices and therefore it would not be possible to estimate numbers

accurately.

Comparisons with Wales

Welsh Government dental statistics on patients treated, patient charges, activity and

workforce are available here. Dental data for Wales is produced in the same way as the

English data and therefore has all the same issues as above.

Comparisons with Scotland

The Information Services Division (ISD) is a division of National Services Scotland, part of

NHS Scotland. ISD provides information on Dental Fees and Treatments, primary Care

dentistry and Registration and Participation here.

A key policy change influencing registration levels in Scotland has been the introduction of

non-time-limited registration. Prior to April 2006, patient registration lapsed after a period

of 15 months if the patient did not attend the dental practice. This was extended to 36

months from April 2006 and further extended to 48 months from April 2009.

In April 2010, ‘lifetime registration’ was introduced, i.e. the patient will remain registered

with that dentist unless they move to another dentist, or upon death. The amount of

registration fee will be reduced to 20% if the patient is not seen for 3 years. These

extensions to the registration period are likely to have had, and will continue to have, an

impact on registration rates. This differs to Northern Ireland were the registration period is

just 24 months.

Scottish workforce statistics are split into Hospital Dentists, General Dental Services and

Personal Dental Services (PDS). The main treatment role of the PDS is to provide care for

people who have special needs and for whom particular skills are required to provide their

care. PDS does not exist in Northern Ireland and Hospital Dentists statistics are not

available.

Ophthalmic Comparisons with England

NHS Digital produces ophthalmic statistics on activity and workforce.

Information on counts of ophthalmic activity – sight tests, vouchers and repairs – is

available for England and is comparable to Northern Ireland data. It should be noted that

on 23rd August 2018, the 2017/18 General Ophthalmic Services’ activity statistics for

England were amended due to data quality issues that meant the figures published

originally were misleading. All data that refers to geographical breakdowns or eligibility

criteria have been removed due to problems with the accuracy of the data.

In England opticians are either classified as Optometrists or OMPs. There is no equivalent

of Dispensing Opticians, as exists in Northern Ireland.

Comparisons with Wales

Welsh Government ophthalmic statistics on activity and workforce are available here.

Ophthalmic data for Wales is paid and produced in the same way as the English data and

therefore has all the same issues as above.

Comparisons with Scotland

The Information Services Division (ISD) is a division of National Services Scotland, part of

NHS Scotland. ISD provides information on activity and workforce, which is available here.

Information on counts of ophthalmic activity – sight tests, vouchers and repairs – is

available for Scotland. However it should also be noted that, unlike Northern Ireland,

everyone is Scotland is entitled to a free sight test every 2 years and those in certain

groups (Children <16 years, Patients >60 years, Patients with Diabetes, Patients with

Glaucoma and Patients >40 years, closely related to someone with Glaucoma) are eligible

for an annual test. Therefore there will be much higher sight tests in Scotland than

Northern Ireland.

Information on the comparability of workforce figures is currently unavailable. This will be

investigated further and included in future updates.

PharmaceuticalThe Northern Ireland Pharmaceutical Services payment model is closely aligned to that in

England and as such the prescription items and ingredient cost are presented in a similar

manner to those published by England.

The Total Ingredient Cost (before discount) is the basic cost of a drug as used in primary

care. This is the cost at list price excluding VAT i.e. the price listed in the national Drug

Tariff or in standard price lists and is not necessarily the price that has been paid. It does

not take into account any contract prices or discounts, dispensing costs or fees, so the

amount that has been paid will be different.

In other parts of the UK the equivalent is called the Net Ingredient Cost (NIC) and is used

in Prescription Services reports and other analyses, as it standardises prescribing costs

nationally, and allows comparisons of data from different sources.

Dispensed Items and Ingredient Cost

The FPS Pharmacy Payment system data is based upon the same information presented

in the annual Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) published on the HSC – BSO website.

However, this information is provided by calendar year and will not compare to the

financial year information presented in the publication. BSO publish prescribing information

at GP Practice level on a monthly basis. This data only contains information on dispensed

items prescribed by GPs or Nurses (within a GP Practice) and will not be comparable.

Community Pharmacies

The number of community pharmacies in Northern Ireland from 1985 and 2014 has

previously been published on the BSO website. But these figures may not compare to the

data in this publication. Previously published information is based upon data at different

time points whilst the current publication is based on data as at 31st March at the end of

the relevant period.

In England, NHS England produces statistics on General Pharmaceutical Services in

England on a financial year basis. The community pharmacy information is comparable to

information presented in FPS Community Pharmacy publications.

The Welsh Government produces an annual Community Pharmacy Services in Wales

Statistics publication. The community pharmacy information is broadly comparable to

information presented in FPS Community Pharmacy publications.

The Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS Scotland releases statistics on

remuneration and reimbursements. These provide details for all dispensing in Scotland

annually but are not comparable with the data in FPS Community Pharmacy publications.

Trade-offs between output quality componentsThis dimension describes the extent to which different aspects of quality are balanced

against each other.

The main trade-off in the report is the balance between timeliness and data quality. The

data are derived from live payment systems which are constantly being updated so a

decision needs to be made as to when to extract the frozen data files on which to produce

the official statistics. The longer this is left the more accurate will be the final data (as it

provides more time for post-hoc payment and other adjustments) but as a consequence

will be less timely.

In respect of the annual report, the data will be extracted to a frozen file around 6 weeks

after the year end. This is to provide sufficient time for the majority of data adjustments in

respect of the most recent payment month to be made. This should then allow for

production of the finalised statistics report within three months of the year-end to which

they relate. The frozen file will only then be revisited should any significant data quality

issues come to light (resulting in the need for the statistical publications to be revised).

The quarterly tabular updates, when established, will be produced to a quicker timeline,

aiming to release the statistics within two months of quarter end. These will hence have a

provisional status to allow more time for not only adjustments to the most recent month but

also any subsequent adjustments that may be required later in the year. The quarterly data

will be finalised following the production of the annual report.

The need for the provisional status attached to the quarterly updates will continue to be

monitored based on the magnitude of the resultant year end revisions.

Assessment of user needs and perceptionsThis dimension covers the processes for finding out about users and uses and their views

on the statistical products.

The Business Services Organisation’s Information Unit conducted an online survey inviting

users/potential users of summary statistics related to Primary Care Services to provide

feedback.

The results of the survey were used to inform the content of this publication including the

type of data presented, style of presentation and statistical breakdowns. The report

summarising the results of this user engagement is published here.

Performance, cost and respondent burdenThis dimension describes the effectiveness, efficiency and economy of the statistical

output.

There is no respondent burden, since all of the data are extracted from existing BSO

information and payments systems held on the HSCNI network. Additional sources such

as the Central Postcode Directory and NISRA population data are available from

organisational websites without the need for any intermediate intervention.

Over time, the production of the report tables will be further automated with data extracted

directly to the Excel templates with minimal need for manual intervention.

An estimate of the cost of the individual service area reports will be included here once the

reports have been completed using the Unit time recording system. There will be initial

development costs and then ongoing update and enhancement costs.

Confidentiality, transparency and securityThe procedures and policy used to ensure sound confidentiality, security and transparent

practices.

Data used to produce this report has been processed on PCs/laptops/servers connected

to HSCNI network and are protected as per the HSC ICT Security Policy.

Suppression has been applied where the number of cases in a cell containing personal

information could identify individuals. This is described in table footnotes where applicable.

Where necessary, additional values will be hidden to avoid disclosure of suppressed

counts.

Responsible StatisticiansAll queries relating to individual publications should be addressed to the statistician

responsible for overseeing their preparation. The responsible statisticians for FPS

statistical publications are:

General Medical Services Gerard McMullanGerard.McMullan@hscni.net

Dental and Ophthalmic Jennifer McCreaJennifer.McCrea@hscni.net

Community Pharmacy Andrew KerrAndrew.Kerr2@hscni.net