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BackEntry title:

Upper respiratory tract infections GP in-hours daily consultation rate baseline

Last updated on Thursday, 6 March 2025 at 04:12pm

Summary

Topic
upper-respiratory-tract-infection
Category
syndromic
API name
upper-respiratory-tract-infection_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 reports the statistical baseline for seasonally expected daily GP in-hours consultation rates per 100,000 people, for upper respiratory tract infections at participating GP practices in England.

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.

Upper respiratory tract infections 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.

Some syndromic indicators are hierarchical. The upper respiratory tract infections indicator includes the following diagnoses:

  • influenza-like illness
  • pharyngitis
  • other and non-specific upper respiratory tract infections

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.

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