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Data is the main currency within any organisation, especially within health services around the world. However, currency gains value when it informs the process of policy and service development that is appropriate, efficient, effective, and value for money.
For the purpose of administration, health services routinely collect monitoring and clinical data. Such data helps to forecast and plan population-based interventions, e.g. secondary care services that may be required such as the number of hospital beds, number of operations, number of health professionals, for the following financial year. In other words, this data refers to morbidity and mortality after the event, to add insight into the process of morbidity or disease development decision makers often rely on funded projects and research studies.
Until recently data collection was paper-based and as such the method was designed to suit the medium on which data were recorded. Rapid advancement in technology substantially improved the collection and access to digitised data with a much increased capacity for data storage. Information technology (IT) opened up whole new horizons to be creative with data and enhance its value as a currency.
However, practice suggests that creativity may only be limited to the technology. For example, Pagliari (Pagliari et al., 2007) explains that “HealthSpace (www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk) also offers possibilities for integrating electronic consulting and education in the future. Although HealthSpace promises a national solution to electronic personal health records, it will be some time before its full potential is realised.” (Pagliari et al., 2007).
It seems that despite the level of advancement in IT and database technology and after allocating billions of dollars, creativity has been limited mainly to digitising the paper format. The heavy emphasis on intervention and clinical data has removed all concerns for converting data into valuable information to gain insight into the process of disease development (Shahtahmasebi, 2008). For example, the creation of electronic health records is testimony to the narrow and unwise focus of governments and health services decision makers; why spend billions of dollars to recreate what is already available? Furthermore, given the emphasis of the strategy on access to clinical/administrative data (Boonstra et al., 2014; Garrety et al., 2014; Soumerai & Avery, 2010; Waterson, 2014) for governments to go ahead with e-records is like reinventing the wheel!