Dr. Mary Favier:

Portugal, the European country which most recently changed its legislation following a referendum 12 years ago, put a particular focus on the collection of data. It has very good data which it uses every year to interrogate its provision of and access to services, particularly in rural areas, as well as the issue of prevention. The WHO provides that data set and makes recommendations on what should be collected and how services might best be planned. I do not think it will take much reinvention to collect such data here. As GPs, we do not want onerous burdens placed on doctors to collect data which do not have a medical purpose or potentially form the basis for a change in healthcare. As we stated, GPs are exceptionally busy and, unfortunately, anything that adds another layer of work often does not get done. Patchy data is nearly as bad as no data.