North East London includes some of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the UK, with rates of ill health among the highest in Western Europe. But our academic evaluations have shown GP practices in these areas achieve top national rankings for their health services after adopting CEG tools and support.
For people with hypertension, cardiovascular disease or diabetes, North East London has had the best control of blood pressure and serum cholesterol in the UK. But this hasn’t been easy. The three inner east London boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Newham and Hackney are among the most disadvantaged and socially diverse in the UK. Our data-driven tools have helped to propel those boroughs from the lowest quintile of performance in 2008 to the very top national ranking in the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) by 2018; ranking first, second or third in 25 per cent of 60 clinical indicators. The outer London boroughs we have supported since 2018 have also made substantial improvement.
Coronary heart disease patients with blood pressure <150/90mmHg. Time period: 2005 to 2020.
Performance across the country suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic, and east London has been very badly affected. Nevertheless, NHS North East London has maintained a high ranking in QOF - performing best in London in 2020-21 for key diabetes and lung disease metrics and a close second for key cardiovascular metrics.— Dr John Robson, Clinical Reader in Primary Care Research & Development
NHS North East London commissions CEG's support, allowing it access to tools and training that help GP teams work smarter. Our digital templates and referral forms make it easier to enter the right codes into the patient record at the point of care.
Our searches and call/recall tools use those codes to search, filter and prioritise patients, helping clinicians to deliver services more equitably. Staff also have the support of CEG primary care facilitators and support officers who conduct online and in-person practice visits, hold webinars, send regular e-bulletins, and provide guidance and training to help GP teams use our resources effectively.
The region's practices also benefit from CEG-led academic research and quality improvement programmes supported by research grants. With our primary care support team working with GP teams on the ground, these have resulted in extraordinary improvements in particular areas, for example in reducing strokes, managing chronic kidney disease, and most recently addressing falling rates of childhood immunisations.
I’m a massive fan of CEG’s work. They’ve been improving quality (and saving lives) for as long as I can remember.— Shahed Ahmad, National Clinical Director for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, NHS England & NHS Improvement