Heat or sunstroke GP daily consultation rate baseline
Last updated on Thursday, 10 July 2025 at 12:22pm
Summary
- Topic
- heat-or-sunstroke
- Category
- syndromic
- API name
heat-or-sunstroke_syndromic_GPInHours_baselineRateByDay
Rationale
Monitoring trends in daily GP in-hours consultation rates can provide an early warning of human public health threats and provide detail to inform public health action. Statistical baselines help us assess the current level and trend of GP in hours consultation rates, compared to historical expectations.
Definition
The metric shows the statistical baseline data for the consultation rate per 100,000 people, for Heat or sunstroke from GP in-hours consultations.
Methodology
The statistical baseline is constructed from historical data since August 2016, taking account of any known substantial changes in data collection, population coverage or reporting practices. The COVID-19 pandemic period is excluded.
Heat or sunstroke issues are identified from the diagnoses recorded during GP in-hours consultations. The diagnoses are based on signs and or symptoms and may not be lab confirmed.
The data presented are based on a sentinel syndromic surveillance system, not all GP practices in England are included. We receive an automated feed of anonymised GP in-hours consultation data from participating practices from 2 sources: The Phoenix Partnership (TPP) and Oxford Royal College of General Practitioners Clinical Informatics Digital Hub (ORCHID).
Caveats
Changes to national advice and guidance on access to healthcare services means trends should be treated with caution. The COVID-19 pandemic also involved updates and changes to service provision.
Not all GP practices in England are included in the data and coverage varies by location.
The most recent weekend is not included in the data, since data from ORCHID are currently only available up to the most recent Friday each week.