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Friends and Family test to apply to GPs next year

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31 October 2013

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From December 2014, the Friends and Family Test will be extended to cover general practice. 

The test, which asks patients whether they would recommend services, will be extended to cover GP practices and community and mental health services as part of an NHS England drive to increase transparency and openness in the health service. 

Also by June 2014 the data from GP practices will be linked to data from all hospitals. 

NHS England believes this will allow new insights into the quality of services, and a better understanding of how services interact. 

Tim Kelsey, NHS England’s national director for patients and information, said: “This is the single most important step forward in transparency for healthcare anywhere in the world.

“The English healthcare system is already one of the most transparent in the world – publishing more information than any other country.  But these new measures will transform outcomes, put citizens at the centre of everything we do and will provide the means by which NHS England will be at the cutting edge of medical science.” 

Non-surgical physicians will also have data on their outcomes published, throughout 2014. 

And data on the performance of ten clinical areas including cancer, children’s service, mental health and stroke will be made available to the public from summer 2014.