Data & analytics

27 Sept 2026 Marking my own homework: a full review of the Usual GP Continuity Analyser Four AI reviewers went through the Usual GP Continuity Analyser in parallel. What they found, what was fixed in v1.5.0, and what the exercise says about checking AI-built clinical tools.

14 Aug 2026 The workload the formula can't see Appointments at record levels, GP numbers below 2015, sessions that run six hours, and a population aged 90+ up more than half in twenty years — set against a funding formula built in 2004 on 1990s data.

11 Aug 2026 The list is the business Almost everything a practice earns multiplies by one number: the registered list. Ghost patients, list cleansing, students, summer tourists, new-build estates and care homes — and why a patient is not a patient.

5 Aug 2026 Who carries the risk? Hospitals get their deficits written off; GP partners are personally liable for practice losses. A look at the asymmetry, the losing spiral it creates, and why the risk is also why general practice is cheap.

2 Aug 2026 The plumbing: profit, partnerships, VAT and limited companies Why two identical practices make different profits, how drawings and capital accounts really work, why leaving money in the practice hurts, and the VAT and limited-company traps waiting for PCNs.

28 Jul 2026 Neil's AI Tip #9 — Here's Your Starter Project: Your Own Energy Analyser A worked example: prompting an AI into building a private electricity-usage analyser on the Octopus API — API keys, guardrails, model choice, and the mistakes that taught the most.

22 Jul 2026 Who do your patients actually see? A free continuity tool for GP practices Introduces a free browser-based tool that checks a practice's Usual GP field against who patients really see, and reflects on building clinical software with AI.

4 Jul 2026 Not enough people are talking about Blinx Solutions Analytics dashboard in their PACO… LinkedIn Praises the Blinx Solutions PACO analytics dashboard for fast PCN-wide queries across millions of records.

17 Jun 2026 Vibe Coding Is Brilliant. Information Governance Still Matters. LinkedIn Applauds GPs vibe coding their own tools but warns nobody is asking information governance questions — staff data counts too, DPIAs exist for this, and free AI tiers offer no data protections.

10 Jun 2026 Choose your AI App Wisely LinkedIn A framework for picking an AI tool: separate the app from the model, match the engine to the job, weigh generalists against specialists like Medwise, and mind where your data goes.

3 Jun 2026 If you want to try Vibe Coding - Use GIT LinkedIn Why anyone letting AI write code should learn git first: snapshot-and-rollback protects vibe-coding experiments, and AI assistants can run the commands for you.

26 May 2026 Just been informed my poster for the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society Spring… LinkedIn Marks his Highly Commended poster on using AI to write code that mined 16,000 free-text echo reports to improve a PCN heart failure register.

15 Apr 2026 Should we invest in an AI Machine? LinkedIn Explores running local AI models with Ollama on Mac hardware and asks whether each neighbourhood should own an AI service for data analysis and risk stratification, keeping patient data on-site.

13 Apr 2026 ive also been playing with claude and national data sets but not done anything as clever… LinkedIn Notes experimenting with Claude on national datasets, crediting Anne Marie Cunningham's more sophisticated analyses.

13 Apr 2026 Stop Starting From Scratch: Use Projects LinkedIn Explains how AI Projects give ongoing work persistent context — an instructions file, reference documents and a living knowledge base — so serious collaboration stops restarting from scratch.

8 Apr 2026 Stop Asking AI for Word Docs LinkedIn Practical tip for non-techies: ask AI for Markdown rather than Word documents, using plain-text files as knowledge bases, handoff notes and task lists that survive copy-paste and versioning.

4 Apr 2026 Neighbourhood Working - Part 2 LinkedIn Argues that capitation gives general practice a structural incentive for prevention, so PCNs should set the population health agenda using individual-level data rather than postcode proxies.

3 Apr 2026 Neighbourhood Working - Part 1 LinkedIn Argues neighbourhood working is being shaped by acute trusts' short-term cost priorities, citing Geoffrey Rose on middle-risk prevention and the limits of area targeting.

2 Apr 2026 The large pachyderm in the room: Planning guidance out today - its all about A&E… LinkedIn Argues the new NHS planning guidance is really about A&E avoidance and cutting bed stays, the true purpose of integrated neighbourhood teams.

18 Mar 2026 Building Primary Care Tools Without Coding: An AI Experiment LinkedIn A conference poster on using AI as a programming collaborator so clinicians can build in-practice data analysis tools, applied to heart failure register validation in SMASH PCN.

16 Mar 2026 As many of you may know I'm always looking for ways to speed up clinical trial delivery. LinkedIn Seeks innovative tools to automate post-visit data upload to electronic case documents, a persistent bottleneck in clinical trial delivery.

2 Feb 2026 Can artificial intelligence (AI) save UK primary care? BJC TV Video interview for the British Journal of Cardiology: Dr Neil Paul and Dr Martin Godfrey on how AI and digital healthcare may revolutionise general practice.

12 Jan 2026 Ive been a bit quiet recently on here as so many exciting projects on the go that I hope… LinkedIn Shares a document for local GPs on text-messaging costs, noting SMS fragment use varies from 3 to 89 per patient per year.

14 Nov 2025 A six-step roadmap for lean digital transformation Pulse PCN A six-step framework for PCN digital transformation leads as ICB budgets shrink: audit existing systems, prioritise ruthlessly, pool resources and act as value stewards rather than buyers of new tools.

28 Oct 2025 IT & AI Can Help Us Deliver Commercial Research at Scale LinkedIn Five ways IT and AI could enable research at scale: federated patient searches, in-consultation prompts, pre-populated e-worksheets, shared IMP tracking and remote site access.

20 Oct 2025 From Competition to Collaboration LinkedIn Proposes provider collaboratives with shared workforce, governance and pooled funding to deliver commercial trials at scale, formalised by joint venture agreements.

20 Oct 2025 Scaling Research in General Practice LinkedIn Sets out a staffing model for commercial trials in general practice — Sub-Investigators, research nurses, HCA technicians and a flexible staff bank — so PIs focus on oversight, not delivery.

22 Aug 2025 Not sure why this post didn’t get more attention- so reposting in case it was missed in… LinkedIn Reshares a study using temporal graph analysis of patient records to measure clinician-patient interaction intensity.

14 Aug 2025 Interested in Big data and some of the insights you can get from it? LinkedIn Draws on a Freakonomics podcast about Uber tipping data to explore how profiling GP-patient interactions could reveal population-health insights.

11 Aug 2025 Do Apple users have better wellbeing? LinkedIn Wonders what unconventional datasets, such as internet and device usage by neighbourhood, could enrich ICB population health data and correlate with health outcomes.

1 Aug 2025 Ok what strategies are people using to find patients to target in population health… LinkedIn Asks how teams pick patients for population health work, weighing rising-risk, high-cost and high-attender cohorts and regression to the mean.

11 Jun 2025 Could RPA help with this problem? LinkedIn Asks whether RPA or an API could copy predefined data such as ethnicity and BPs between EMIS Web and community services' EMIS records.

6 Mar 2025 Some are saying that LLM AIs are running out of training materials and that AI won't keep… LinkedIn Counters fears that AI is running out of training data, arguing coded consultations, outcomes and wearables could unlock new health insights.

1 Mar 2025 In the post below I talk about the need to have a richer more nuanced coding system. LinkedIn Warns that expanding GP Connect record access risks over-sharing sensitive data, and asks whether role-based access or AI could curate it.

22 Jan 2025 Standardising Referrals LinkedIn Recommends Accenda's Gateway product, which front-ends eRS with standardised referral templates auto-built from coded data, as an overlooked answer to the elective recovery referrals debate.

30 Dec 2024 Data Visualization LinkedIn A request for examples of practice or PCN population segmentation visualisations, along NAPC or Johns Hopkins models, beyond the unhelpful 'village of 100' approach.

17 Dec 2024 Is there a tool... LinkedIn Seeks a tool to compare a practice database against local addresses and find new-build homes with no registered patients, to size a marketing push and missed registration income.

14 Nov 2024 Is it time to revisit how Problems are coded in Primary care EPRs?' LinkedIn Argues primary care EPR problem coding needs metadata on who diagnosed, how and how certainly, illustrated with messy real cases.

17 May 2024 Why aren't we seeing major insights from big data? LinkedIn Asks why healthcare gleans so little insight from big data when other industries learn so much from their customer systems.

14 May 2024 Practice moves to Blinx Solutions LinkedIn Reports the practice's switch to Blinx Paco for automated call/recall with online booking and pre-appointment forms, and asks why ICE has no API to automate blood test ordering.

7 May 2024 We have some excellent talks at the conference this year including a keynote from Tim… LinkedIn Previews conference talks including a keynote from NHS England's Tim Caroe, a UCL Partners CVD toolkit and Dr Clare Sieber on managing PCN conflict.

25 Jan 2024 Medical Examiners System LinkedIn Accenda's Gateway software automatically builds the form the new Medical Examiners system requires for each death, cutting the admin burden of this unfunded work.

28 Dec 2023 For those of us in the UK doing PCNs and Care communities and thinking about population… LinkedIn Shares a US article on how neighbourhood factors shape cardiovascular health, touching on risk prediction and inequalities.

26 Dec 2023 Quantitative measure of workload LinkedIn Argues raw appointment counts miss the complexity and stress of GP workload, asking whether systems could weight consultations — or a Bluetooth dice log stress levels.

1 Nov 2023 Over the last 6 months or so I've heard of several staff from nearby practices leave and… LinkedIn Warns that departing staff deleting EMIS and shared-drive files exposes weak access controls and leaver policies.

17 Oct 2023 We have just set one up in Cheshire east - using a combination of Edenbridge APEX… LinkedIn Describes a Cheshire East tool combining Edenbridge Apex activity data with a monthly practice survey, to be shown at their DTL conference.

16 Oct 2023 Outsourcing / Insourcing?' LinkedIn Asks whether practices have outsourced coding and admin work or set up PCN hub services amid staff turnover and emerging AI.

19 Sept 2023 Really good DTL forum meeting this am our 2nd bimonthly webinar free to attend for all… LinkedIn Reports a DTL forum webinar on Healthtech1 and NHS England patient-registration tools that save admin time.

24 Jul 2023 Are millions really waiting more than 2 weeks to see a GP? LinkedIn Picks apart a Guardian headline claiming 38 million wait over two weeks for a GP, tracing it to misread GPAD data and warning against targets built on bad statistics.

18 Jul 2023 Anyone good with the interface between EMIS web and EMIS community?' LinkedIn Asks how to automatically copy ethnicity and preferred-language coding from EMIS Web into community services' EMIS Community system.

14 Jul 2023 Have you come across POMI? LinkedIn Introduces POMI, the Patient Online Management Information dashboard that tracks a practice's online activity.

7 Jul 2023 Digital Transformation Leads Forum LinkedIn Notes from a forum of over 100 ARRS-funded Digital and Transformation Leads, setting out eight priorities from cloud telephony and GPAD data quality to hub working and staff training.

24 May 2023 GPAD Matching LinkedIn Details the mess found when checking GPAD appointment-category mapping across a PCN: miscoded clinics, ARRS staff confusion, rival definitions of triage and shaky IIF indicators.

2 Mar 2023 What can we learn from 'big data'? LinkedIn Uses dating-app data analysis as an example of population segmentation, and asks whether primary care should define its own patient personas to target services better.

6 Jan 2023 Hopefully you know I help run a not-for-profit free to use IT training site called… LinkedIn Promotes how2.training, a free non-profit IT-training site for NHS staff, and asks people to register and follow to secure funding.

20 Dec 2022 GP Appointment Data Released LinkedIn First impressions of the newly published national GP appointment data: it debunks the myth GPs aren't seeing patients but misses unmet demand, outcomes and frequent attenders.

22 Nov 2022 The ups and downs.. 2 emails from EMIS yesterday - one very welcome saying they are… LinkedIn Reacts to EMIS improving search performance but withdrawing its built-in QRISK calculator, and floats an app to fill the gap.

11 Nov 2022 Im being told that Roche is now offering its Diabetes Risk Strat Dashboard for free to GP… LinkedIn Notes Roche is offering its Diabetes Risk Stratification Dashboard free to practices, flagging patients with most to gain from intervention.

11 Nov 2022 Can we predict who we need to cater for in general practice? LinkedIn Asks whether practice demographics could predict appointment demand, and whether comparing attendance patterns — why does one diabetic come eight times a year? — could improve care.

8 Nov 2022 GP Records to be Turned on Again LinkedIn On the 2022 stand-off over prospective patient access to GP records: NHS England instructed system suppliers to switch it on, raising questions about who is really the data controller.

6 Nov 2022 Has general practice IT got any better in the last 20 years? LinkedIn A provocation that little in GP IT has genuinely improved since a DOS-based EPR 20 years ago — e-prescribing aside — with e-referrals, video and AI all failing to disrupt.

23 Sept 2022 My PCN had a great session with Ben Hampshire from Edenbridge APEX - given the DH are… LinkedIn How Edenbridge's APEX showed his PCN was undercounting GP activity in GPAD data, and let him show live activity to the acute trust.

28 Mar 2022 Making clinical trials easier in Primary Care LinkedIn Ten practical suggestions for trial designers, from basing eligibility on routinely coded GP data and using local labs to dropping fasting requirements and involving GPs early.

10 Mar 2022 from april - patients can see all of their notes including free text. LinkedIn With patients able to read free-text notes from April, Neil points to How2 training videos on when and how to redact entries.

4 Mar 2022 The future of general practice has been published.... LinkedIn Summarises the newly published vision for general practice, flagging salaried at-scale working, the NHS App as front door, and data sharing.

3 Feb 2022 We are looking for a Data Protection Support Officer to join our team. LinkedIn Advertises for a data protection support officer in the team serving GP practices across the Midlands and North West.

20 Jan 2022 Video consultations - is more data available? LinkedIn Argues video consultations add little over the phone unless enriched with data — vital signs detected from the video stream or HealthKit readings and questionnaires sent alongside the call.

11 Jan 2022 Ok - my GP federation in South Cheshire is looking to 'hire' a BI/Data… LinkedIn Advertises for a contract BI and data visualisation analyst with NHS and primary care data experience to work with the South Cheshire federation.

1 Dec 2021 Recording of GP Appointment Data LinkedIn Welcomes moves to standardise how GP appointment data is recorded, and argues the appointment book deserves a ground-up redesign with e-triage and messaging built in rather than bolted on.

2 Nov 2021 How to... meet your IT needs Pulse PCN Practical tips for building a PCN IT strategy: audit hardware, align clinical systems and add-ons, share staff skills, use business intelligence tools and hire dedicated IT support.

14 Oct 2021 Highlights from Best Practice Show 2021 LinkedIn Round-up of the 2021 Best Practice Show: Omron's wheeze detector, the Aktiia blood-pressure wristband, SmartPeakFlow, CodePilots, and rival e-triage offerings.

12 Oct 2021 Is it time to rethink what GPs do? Argues for segmenting GP work — minor ailments, chronic disease, palliative care — and asking which services belong at practice, town or PCN scale, and who should deliver them.

7 Jul 2021 Another view: of age being a barrier to tech Argues age itself is not the barrier to patient-facing tech; failing sight, hearing and dexterity are, and calls for accessibility help and 'digital angels' to teach online services.

17 Mar 2021 Another view: of Covid-19 vaccinations Frontline account of standing up Covid hot hubs, home pulse oximetry and PCN vaccination sites, and why EMIS Enterprise searches disagreed with regional data on who needed the jab.

17 Mar 2021 Another view: of the GP IT market Asks why defibrillators, adrenaline pens and home monitors aren't internet-connected, proposing emergency data hotspots and praising the Responder app for community cardiac arrests.

22 Jan 2021 Ive had a look at my PCN data and Apex really helps you understand how you are doing. LinkedIn Finds Edenbridge Apex valuable for understanding PCN performance and promises to share screenshots.

29 Oct 2020 Pleased to be a co-author on this poster being presented at the PCDS (primary care… LinkedIn Notes he is a co-author on a diabetes poster at the virtual Primary Care Diabetes Society conference, which is free to attend.

26 Aug 2020 Had a great meeting today with Naj Rotheram and Jennie Johnson looking at The Grasp… LinkedIn Discusses using the PRIMIS Grasp Diabetes tool at scale and linking it to population health segmentation work.

22 Aug 2020 Connected Health Asks why defibrillators and adrenaline pens aren't internet-connected to call 999 automatically, suggests emergency data hotspots, and champions the Responder CPR crowdsourcing app.

23 Jun 2020 The Paul Score! Proposes the 'Paul Score' — counting each patient's modifiable cardiovascular risks — as a practical way to target prevention work, compare practices and prioritise Covid vaccination.

2 Jun 2020 My latest digitalhealth column is out - I'm once again trying to understand how… LinkedIn Shares a DigitalHealth column on population health segmentation, introducing his own 'Paul score' of modifiable risk.

23 Apr 2020 BIG DATA FIGHTS COVID A short plug for the ZOE Covid symptom tracker app from Guy's and St Thomas's, which crowdsources real-world data on how the virus is spreading.

15 Apr 2020 I've done another demo video this time on AccuRx and their reply with a photo… LinkedIn Shares a demo video of AccuRx's reply-with-photo feature and promotes the Howbeckhow2 online training site for primary-care systems.

14 Apr 2020 I've done another demo video this time of the new Softphone and Video call functionality… LinkedIn A demo of X-ON's GP@home softphone and video calling, alongside a plug for the Howbeckhow2 primary care IT training site.

25 Mar 2020 Apologies if you are seeing this everywhere - but consider downloading this Covid-tracker… LinkedIn Encourages downloading the Guy's and St Thomas' ZOE Covid tracker and reporting daily to build big data.

18 Feb 2020 Im fascinated by big data and population health stratification - its part of the future.' LinkedIn Reflects on population health stratification work with Cheshire's BI team and flags a BCS population health conference in Newcastle.

4 Dec 2019 My now bi-monthly DigitalHealth column is out: Some of my views on population health… LinkedIn Argues general practice should be more proactive in population health, targeting patients with most to gain rather than minor ailments.

22 Nov 2019 Kinesis Healthcare – Falls Reduction Reviews Kinesis QTUG, leg-worn sensors that turn the timed up-and-go test into rich falls-risk metrics, usable for quick screening or to guide physiotherapy.

23 Sept 2019 Seeing one record / Sharing data nightmares A rant on record-sharing contradictions: no way to grant access to a single patient's record, stale sharing agreements, staff snooping and the burden of redacting notes.

5 Sept 2019 My latest digital health article is out. LinkedIn Links a Digital Health column venting about the confusion of record-access and data-sharing rules in primary care.

23 Jul 2019 Implementing Innovation Surveys the technologies that could genuinely cut NHS workload — smartphones, AI diagnosis support, remote consultation cubicles — and asks why innovators get so little structured NHS support.

6 Jul 2019 On primary care networks and IT upgrades Early days of PCNs: missing data-sharing agreements, network-level analytics with Apex, a transformative Windows 10 hardware refresh, and whether pooled Lexacom typing could work across practices.

23 May 2019 Reducing unneeded tests in primary care LinkedIn Notes from a Benchmarking Partnership presentation on pathology demand optimisation, tackling both over- and under-ordering of tests, with promising diabetes results.

23 May 2019 Another View: On whether a GP-contract-driven change is going to come A close reading of the 2019/20 GP contract's digital ambitions — data sharing, 111 direct booking, activity dashboards — concluding much of it is hot air rather than real change.

30 Apr 2019 Wearables and Data Collection From paper diabetes diaries as a medical student to wearables and smartphone sensors: how continuous data capture could transform research, chronic disease self-management and prevention.

23 Mar 2019 Apple’s iWatch now does ECGs in the UK LinkedIn First impressions of the Apple Watch ECG feature arriving in the UK: easy PDF export makes it a useful triage and screening tool despite doubts over interpretation accuracy.

18 Dec 2018 Roy Lilley catches up with my thinking! LinkedIn Notes Roy Lilley echoing his long-held point about the lack of GP activity data, and cites his prize-winning Apex primary care BI tool.

11 Dec 2018 Docman 10 is trying to recruit practices to join its AI experiment to reduce GP workload… LinkedIn Encourages practices to join Docman 10's AI experiment to cut GP document workload, since more data improves the AI.

5 Dec 2018 Nice to receive positive feedback about Howbeck Healthcare Limited's GDPR and DPO service… LinkedIn Shares a practice manager's positive feedback on Howbeck Healthcare's GDPR and Data Protection Officer service for GP federations and practices.

7 Sept 2018 EMIS NUG Impressions from the 2018 EMIS National User Group conference in Birmingham: a thin theme, an intriguing Epson inkjet pitch, and Patient Leaf's fresh dashboard UI on top of EMIS.

23 Aug 2018 EMIS NUG Impressions from day one of the 2018 EMIS NUG conference in Birmingham: a thin theme, an Epson inkjet cost pitch, and Patient Leaf's dashboard UI over EMIS as the standout.

6 Jul 2018 Contactless Check-in using Apple Pay or wifi? Proposes replacing slow touchscreen check-ins with Apple Pay-style contactless or a wifi app that could also transfer blood pressure, PHQ9 scores and consent data to the practice.

6 Jul 2018 Have you seen https://lnkd.in/gTuFE2D' LinkedIn Flags an NHS innovation funding competition and offers Howbeck's help gathering data and writing bids across 200 practices.

6 Jul 2018 Why can't I use Contactless Check-in at my GP surgery using Apple Pay or Wi-Fi? LinkedIn Proposes Apple Pay-style contactless or wifi-based check-in for GP surgeries, cutting reception queues and enabling transfer of health data and consent from patients' phones.

13 Jun 2018 Should my primary care EPR include a widget that tracks (or suggests) a differential diagnosis? Argues GP records should track a working differential diagnosis — showing what has been ruled in or out and why — rather than bare codes of uncertain provenance, and questions the SOAP model.

8 Jun 2018 Cryptography From PGP to NHSmail's [secure] encryption, argues that proving patients are who they say they are — perhaps via authenticator apps — is the key to unlocking chatbots and online care.

8 Jun 2018 Cryptography and Proving our Identity From NHSmail's little-known [secure] encryption to practice chatbots, argues online care cannot flourish until patients can prove their identity — perhaps via an authenticator-style NHS app.

7 Jun 2018 EMIS protocols & QMasters are great! LinkedIn Praises EMIS Web protocols and QMasters' background tools that correct bad coding as you type, and floats an open-source GitHub-style repository of useful protocols.

4 Jun 2018 Do we need a NHS Primary care EPR UI Hackday? Argues EMIS's text-heavy templates and summary screens need radical rethinking, and calls for a hack day pairing clinicians with UI designers from outside healthcare.

25 May 2018 Is it time to open up the UI of the GP EPR? Is it time for an app store? Argues GPs should be able to choose their EPR front end, with specialist-built screens and app-store-style add-ons competing to replace dated interfaces like EMIS's palliative care view.

21 May 2018 Apex BI Tool A look at Apex, a business-intelligence tool showing practices their activity, capacity and demand data so partners and managers can judge staffing changes — a QI aid, not a stick.

21 May 2018 More thoughts on use of AI in healthcare - better coding in the EPR! Suggests AI could fix variable clinical coding in GP records — prompting missed codes, extracting codes from free text, and even transcribing consultations into coded entries.

15 May 2018 Are we going to see any benefits from switching to Snomed CT codes? Doubts the Read-to-SNOMED CT switch will deliver real benefits without investment in data quality, coding training and clarity over working versus definitive diagnoses.

11 May 2018 Does EMIS Web need new functionality to meet the Working at Scale agenda & to maintain being the system of choice as GPs get bigger and work together Argues EMIS lacks a federated multi-practice view for shared reception, triage, typing and cross-organisation searches, and that this gap is holding back working at scale.

2 May 2018 Google researchers have published some data from an AI that has been reviewing fundoscopy… LinkedIn Explores Google's AI analysis of retinal images to predict cardiovascular risk and how opticians' cameras could aid prevention.

23 Apr 2018 Why wont EMIS let me search across shared data? Shows how EMIS searches ignore shared community records — a palliative care report missed data on half its patients — and asks for a simple 'include shared data' option without paying for Enterprise S&R.

19 Apr 2018 Is NHS 111 a waste of time? Questions whether NHS 111's risk-averse algorithms send too many people to A&E and by ambulance, and argues for joined-up data to feed outcomes back and improve triage.

16 Apr 2018 More thoughts on EMIS Mobile Follow-up review of EMIS Mobile listing needed fixes: Touch ID logins, a better home-visit assignment workflow, bulk download of care home residents and redesigned data entry templates.

11 Apr 2018 Ultramed's POAC service could save hospitals real money! An enthusiastic look at Ultramed's MyPreOp, which computerises pre-operative assessment with evidence-based algorithms, cutting nurse time, separate POAC appointments and referral-to-treatment delays.

27 Mar 2018 3D Wound Care A look at GPC's 3D wound-measuring camera, and plans to trial it across a Cheshire care community to standardise wound recording and cut healing times.

15 Dec 2017 Another View: of artificial intelligence Weighs the ethics and near-term limits of AI replacing doctors, and where it could genuinely help GPs: smarter prescribing warnings, filtering blood results and letters, and note-taking.

7 Jun 2017 Another View: of the Cyberattack A first-hand account of the WannaCry ransomware attack hitting a GP surgery — flying blind by 5pm — and the case for backup kit, better patching and a more diverse NHS IT ecosystem.

6 Apr 2017 My latest article is out! LinkedIn Flags the author's latest article weighing up whether data lakes are a good idea for healthcare.

20 Jan 2017 Another View: New ACO’s need Data and Insight Argues that emerging accountable care organisations need analytics and insight, not just shared records — instant specialist advice for clinicians and proper evaluation of service changes.

24 Nov 2016 https://lnkd.in/d7KSmiE official announcement at last! LinkedIn Marks the official announcement that he has won the John Perry Prize for his work in GP informatics.

25 Sept 2015 The Future of Primary Care IT Argues incumbent GP system suppliers risk extinction because their IT blocks federated working - shared notes, letters and staff across practices - and disruption is coming.

22 Sept 2015 Point of Care Testing Proposes mining ICE order-comms data to expose test-ordering variation and reinvesting savings in point-of-care testing — if CCG lab budgets could be shifted to practices to fund the machines.

1 Aug 2015 Handling Demand On stretching a shrinking GP workforce: Harry Longman's phone-first triage, online asynchronous consultations, waiting-room questionnaires and Sky-style dynamic appointment lengths.

13 Feb 2015 Just do IT Argues the NHS should copy Sky and telecoms firms by giving district nurses tablets — for lone-worker safety, paperwork in the field, remote advice and data to match resource to need.

12 Feb 2015 HSCIC have today published data on GP income. LinkedIn Reacts to HSCIC GP income data, contrasting his practice's roughly £115 per patient with others receiving £300 to £1,700.

7 Jan 2015 The A&E Crisis Challenges the media narrative that A&E pressure stems from poor GP access, citing local evidence, and announces a federation project to collect real data on primary care activity.

2 Apr 2014 Code4Health Reflects on Code4Health's plan to teach the NHS coding, arguing what's really needed is informatics and process-mapping skills, programmable clinical software and funded support.

5 Feb 2014 Another View: Twenty Eight Asks whether GP system suppliers should be broken up, separating patient data from the software that records it, and pins hopes on GPSoC2's mandated APIs to open the market.

28 Oct 2013 Another View: Twenty Five Reflections from QOF practice visits on how hard it is to prove old diagnoses, and why clinical systems should record who diagnosed what, on what evidence, with what certainty.

5 Oct 2013 Another View: Twenty Two Prompted by the Daniel Pelka case, suggests ways NHS IT could help spot child abuse: tracking A&E attendances, school-GP links, shared records and a predictive risk algorithm.

1 Oct 2013 Another View: Twenty Four Fears that care.data's monthly extract of coded GP records could fuel crude league tables scoring practices and individual GPs without context or statistical care.

3 Sept 2013 Another View: Twenty Three A sceptical report from a Nuffield Trust predictive risk conference: admission-avoidance schemes lack proof, and richer GP data plus everyday screening tech might serve better.

9 Aug 2013 Another View: of The Future Reflections from interviewing CCG IT manager candidates on what health IT strategy misses: drug-level effectiveness analysis, telehealth data overload and consultation triage.

26 Feb 2013 Cloud computing and general practice GP magazine Explains what cloud storage and software as a service offer a small business, and why patient data and N3 make the cloud a trickier prospect for practices.

23 Jan 2013 Another View: Sixteen On the problems of GPs and district nurses using separate EMIS Web and Community Web systems: security, messaging, prescribing and reception headaches from a flawed procurement.

11 Dec 2012 Another View: Fifteen A first look at the EMIS Mobile app, arguing tablets could be a game changer for home visits, nursing home rounds and perhaps replacing the desktop PC.

13 Nov 2012 Another View: Fourteen Praises EMIS's electronic fit note and ICE order comms, asks why HGV medicals and insurance reports aren't automated too, and worries how many anonymised copies of GP data exist.

29 Apr 2012 We have now put a 'Newsletter' icon on our page. LinkedIn Announces a new newsletter sign-up icon on the practice page where patients can register to receive updates.

20 Apr 2012 Should we allow private companies to mine the NHS databases for profit? LinkedIn Poses the question of whether private firms should be allowed to mine NHS databases for profit, linking to a fuller blog post.

7 Apr 2012 ok anyone got a good tutorial on automating the importing of csv data into excel? LinkedIn Requests a tutorial on automating the merge of 17 similar CSV files into a single Excel spreadsheet each quarter.

3 Apr 2012 Another view: Six Argues NHS data arguments founder on mismatched definitions — 'GP admissions' means different things to GPs and hospitals — and calls for shared definitions, pooled data and better analysis tools.

22 Feb 2012 Read code help needed' LinkedIn Asks colleagues which Read code marks patients on digoxin or amiodarone as appropriately treated but without atrial fibrillation.

8 Nov 2011 What is the cloud? GP magazine Explains software as a service in plain terms and weighs what cloud computing could mean for GP practices, from cheaper terminals to connection risks.

1 Jun 2011 From the consulting room: Making information free to be useful Microsoft NHS Resource Centre Sets out a vision for a tablet-based home-visit system with offline sync, and argues GP system suppliers should open their APIs to third-party add-ons as Apple and Facebook do.

4 May 2011 From the consulting room: Who’s checking the GP’s pulse? Microsoft NHS Resource Centre Argues GP commissioning needs IT that measures primary care itself: admissions early-warning systems, appointment access rates and per-clinician prescribing and referral data.

14 Apr 2011 best quote from today - most healthcare systems would kill for the data the nhs has -… LinkedIn Shares a conference quote on how the NHS holds enviable data yet fails to make the most of it.

8 Feb 2011 From the consulting room on EMIS Web Microsoft NHS Resource Centre On worries ahead of migrating to EMIS Web: rumours it drops local and associate codes threaten how practices track vasectomy follow-ups, research visits and referral activity.

1 Feb 2011 Getting more out of Excel GP magazine A tour of Excel features beyond simple sums - autofilter, pivot tables, macros, VBA and add-ons - with examples from analysing practice referral data.

3 Jan 2011 Do you invest enough in the IT at your practice? GP magazine Makes the case for topping up PCT-supplied kit with the practice's own money, from £10 wireless mice to widescreen monitors and a shared colour laser printer.

5 Dec 2010 Getting your practice ready for EMIS Web GP magazine Practical advice on preparing practice staff for the switch to EMIS's new system, using scenario-based training rather than unstructured play.

18 Oct 2010 From the consulting room on local shared records schemes Microsoft NHS Resource Centre Advice from a project giving A&E and out-of-hours a view of the GP record via EMIS Web: name it honestly, verify consent, and let patients see who has accessed their notes.

15 Sept 2010 Another View: One On EMIS Web's roll-out approval and the confusion around data sharing agreements and patient consent, urging EMIS to produce clear guidance before a mess ensues.

13 Jun 2010 How safe is the data on your home computer? GP magazine Compares home backup options for GPs who work at home, from USB sticks and mirrored external drives to RAID boxes, networked storage and early cloud services.

6 Jun 2010 OMG! R new website shld go live in the nxt few days. LinkedIn Announces the imminent launch of the practice's new website and invites patients to register, explore, and share feedback.

28 Apr 2010 From the Consulting Room on third party information records Microsoft NHS Resource Centre Mulls the shortcomings of clinical coding — provisional diagnoses, levels of certainty — and the largely unpoliced problem of third-party information in patient records.

28 Feb 2010 NHS Comparators reviewed GP magazine Test-drives the free NHS benchmarking website, praising its graphical interface while wishing for better filtering, practice pooling and weighted populations.

25 Nov 2009 Five Priorities for Primary Care IT Sets out five local priorities agreed with Cheshire ICT: reliable desktops, better telephony, electronic documents both ways between hospitals and GPs, and structured training.

14 Jul 2009 Data security is again a hot topic GP magazine Prompted by the phone-hacking scandal, practical advice for practices on blaggers, safe-haven faxes, strong passwords and securing voicemail and mobile devices.

9 Jun 2009 Our Website could do so much more. A 2009 call for practices to reclaim their websites: single log-in front doors offering tailored patient information, data capture, phone-queue status and hospital links.

1 Jun 2009 Review: Nuance's Dragon 10 Medical GP magazine A hands-on review of Nuance's Dragon 10 Medical voice recognition software, weighing impressive dictation against poor integration with GP systems.

12 May 2009 IT should make me more money Argues GP IT focuses on government targets rather than practice profitability, and identifies market gaps in stock control, staff performance reporting and appointment-linked business intelligence.

14 Apr 2009 Resilience from the consulting room Microsoft NHS Resource Centre Argues GPs cannot work when systems fail, calling for NHS IT performance metrics — uptime logs, network speeds, time to print a prescription — to justify better infrastructure.

15 Dec 2008 Why can’t my PC be Cleverer? Asks why computers leave data-quality drudgery to humans — from missing file extensions to double-coded hysterectomies — when systems could catch or fix such errors automatically.

10 Dec 2008 Sending data securely: USB sticks, email and PGP GP magazine Looks at practical options for transferring NHS information safely, from encrypted USB sticks and password-protected zips to NHSmail and public key cryptography.

17 Sept 2008 Creating a Master Guide to NHS websites A hunt for statistical process control and QOF funnel-plot resources exposes how scattered NHS websites are, prompting calls for a master index and an NHS wiki.

5 Sept 2006 Free phone calls over broadband: VOIP explained GP magazine An explanation of voice over IP, covering how internet phone calls work, Skype and BT's broadband phone service, and whether free calls are really free.

4 Jul 2006 Data quality and the IMT DES GP magazine Outlines what the data accreditation assessment for paper-light practices involves and offers practical steps for tidying records and improving Read coding.

31 Jan 2006 The Palm TX: possibly the last Palm OS PDA GP magazine Reviews the Palm TX handheld's screen, memory, syncing and connectivity, and weighs it against Windows-based smartphone rivals for everyday GP use.

11 Oct 2005 Why go to the EMIS user group conference? GP magazine A report from the EMIS National User Group conference explaining what a practice gains from attending, including news of the planned move to PCS web.

4 Oct 2005 Hard disks and network attached storage GP magazine Explains RAID, external USB drives and network attached storage for home and practice use, including backup options and cheap alternatives to a second server.

10 May 2005 Choose and Book: my first impressions GP magazine An early adopter's candid account of the NHS e-booking system - the training, the clunky software and the practical headaches of going live.

18 Oct 2003 Backing up without the hassle: Handy Backup reviewed GP magazine Reviews a $30 utility that automates backing up desktop and home data, with backup sets, zip compression, password protection and network storage options.

9 Sept 2003 Is this finally the death of the floppy disk? GP magazine Explains why floppy and Zip disks are on the way out and how USB flash memory keys are becoming the easy way to carry files between computers.

3 Jun 2003 Beta testing the new EMIS Access module GP magazine Reports on a practice's experience beta testing EMIS Access, covering patient registration, security, online appointment booking and early patient feedback.

22 Apr 2003 Careful with your coding GP magazine On the perils of miscoding diagnoses in GP records, with real examples, and why symptom [D] codes are a safer choice until a diagnosis is firm.

4 Feb 2003 Ten questions to ask about your practice IT GP magazine A checklist of practical questions on antivirus, backups, passwords, licensing and cheap upgrades to help practices assess their computer setup.

15 Dec 2002 Maclean-McNicoll GP accounting software review GP magazine Reviews a computerised cashbook package written by two working GPs, covering setup, data entry, reporting and its value for practices computerising their accounts.

1 Dec 2002 Wincrypt 2.0 encryption software review GP magazine Tests a British file-encryption utility aimed at UK doctors, weighing its strong AES encryption and self-decoding files against clunky integration and a few bugs.

9 Oct 2002 How to get more into your iPAQ or other handheld PC GP magazine Reviews folding keyboards, thumb keyboards, pen-and-paper capture devices and projection keyboards for faster text entry on PDAs.

7 Aug 2002 Taking the laptop into the garden GP magazine Comparing wireless networking and a DECT cordless modem as ways to use a laptop anywhere in the house - and what WiFi might offer the practice.

12 Feb 2002 Best ways to improve data quality GP magazine Practical advice on getting a whole practice coding consistently, from Read code training and outside help to tackling one clinical area at a time.

12 Feb 2002 Using Microsoft Excel to analyse patient data GP magazine A beginner's guide to sorting, autofiltering, subtotals, pivot tables and mail merge in Excel for auditing data extracted from GP clinical systems.