The Need to Rebuild the Foundations of Public Health Systems Data

IntroductionPublic health organisations capture, report on and distribute large amounts of data. This data has many purposes – it may be used to make decisions; drive the funding to be received; or benchmark against peers. This data is trusted, quoted, shared and compared, but is only valid when the foundation information (staffing, costs, activity) in the systems is correct. It has been identified that the foundation information may not reflect the operational structure of many units, and as such the data provided will not be accurate. Objectives and ApproachWhile it’s relatively simple to identify the major systems that are involved in capturing this information, it is complex to correct each of these aspects to reflect the intended business model. The greater challenge lies is identifying those systems that aren’t well known – what they are, who maintains them, and critically, what their impact is on the organisation. Correcting the foundation information is not a singular responsibility, as the information belongs with the Divisions and the management of these systems belongs to various corporate departments. ResultsIncorrect foundation information can have significant and lo