Surveillance

One of Europe's oldest general practice (GP) sentinel networks. We have been the primary source for disease surveillance in England for over 60 years. We also deliver novel health research.

Disease Surveillance

Nearly 2000 practices in England and Wales are contributing pseudonymised data for national research and surveillance. These data enable continuous monitoring of infections and diseases in the community and is used in ethically approved research. The Oxford Royal College of General Practitioners Research and Surveillance Centre (Oxford-RCGP RSC) is the main source of information for UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and helps with prediction and management of flu outbreaks and pandemics.

The pseudonymised data, extracted by information service providers, Wellbeing Software and Egton Medical Information Systems (EMIS), are processed within the private and secure network of the Clinical Informatics and Health Outcomes Research Group at University of Oxford under a formal data sharing agreement. The pseudonymised data may be linked with other NHS data for analysis, including hospital episode statistics.

Practice data is used to produce a weekly Communicable and Respiratory Disease Report which reports on 37 monitored conditions. This report can be accessed through the link  on the right of the page.

Virology and Serology Surveillance

Since the early 1990s, Oxford-RCGP RSC network practices have volunteered to take part in yearly influenza virology surveillance, in collaboration with UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). With the introduction of the COVID-19 pandemic this work has since broadened to encompass other respiratory viruses, such as influenza, COVID-19 and Respiratory Syncytial Virus.

Participating practices assist the network by collecting nasopharyngeal samples from patients clinically suspected of having a respiratory virus. Results are then linked to pseudonymised clinical data. Its primary role is to confirm these cases, but also to look at the impact of other diseases, to characterise more vulnerable populations, and to support in the evaluation of vaccine effectiveness. Most interest is currently on how age, gender, ethnicity, household size, and population density link to rates of infection.

A serological surveillance arm has also been rolled-out, which contributes important and timely data on background population immunity to respiratory illnesses, and vaccine effectiveness.

Surveillance related studies

Piams 
For the 2022/23 flu season, we will test new ways of identifying people with flu who come to see their GP. This includes taking nasopharyngeal swabs of those with flu-like symptoms and performing rapid tests at the practice, rather than sending the swab to a laboratory. These tests are known as “point-of-care tests”.

iid3
In brief, the IID3 study design comprises three population-based studies: two prospective studies in Primary Care, and a microbiology study involving diagnostic and reference microbiology and AMR determination. The research aims to address the question of whether the incidence of infectious intestinal disease (IID) in the community changed since the late 2000s.

Monitory
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has identified >800 clinical interventions that should be discontinued or not used routinely in the NHS. Implementation of ‘Do-Not-Do’ recommendations could reduce inappropriate prescribing and lessen hospital admissions due to adverse events. However, the recommendations tend to be overlooked by clinicians due to competing commitments and limited time. Audit-based education (ABE) could be used to implement ‘Do-Not-Do’ recommendations to simplify the process for clinicians.