Turning routine NHS data into health care intelligence: NHS clinicians need public health doctors in primary care trusts (PCTs).

摘要

The Khan et al paper1 shows an impressive increase in the number of admission rates, although this is not dissimilar to trends in other specialities,2'3 for example COPD admissions were reported to have risen by 50% over less than a decade. Nevertheless, this is a commendable effort showing what can be done to reveal changes in healthcare when clinical knowledge from the frontline is combined with epidemiological expertise in academic units.However, we do not know from this paper whether the reported increase in workload in plastic surgery is real or perceived and what the nature of the increased workload might be, i.e. is this an increase in necessary, evidence-based, and cost-effective workload, or a trend that is led by other drivers be they the subjective preferences of clinicians or patients or both.