Box 2.

General principles for guiding development of QI reports based on scoping interviews

Do not overload GPs and practice staff with information. Make reports directly relevant to improving patient care, ideally by allowing GPs to re-identify patients whose care may need to be reviewed. Make it clear what GPs can do as a result of the report; the expected action must be clear and directly beneficial to patients. Benchmarking, both at GP level within practices as well as at practice level across the whole dataset, would be a useful way of making GPs think about the care they provide; this overview would then provide users with the incentive to drill down to the patient level. Any reports must not only be quick and easy to understand for all practice staff but also add value to make them worth taking time to read. It is important not to present these reports as a performance management measure; the reports must be supportive of practice initiatives around quality improvement.

QI = quality improvement.