Variation in Partnership Health general practice enrolment data related to need and hospital and national records on ethnicity.

Aim: To compare enrolment data for ethnicity and deprivation and other classifications in Partnership Health Primary Health Organisation (PHO) general practices with the National Health Index (NHI) data set and hospital discharge data and to analyse use of special access funding.

Methods: NHI-linked practice data were obtained through Partnership Health and sent directly to New Zealand Health Information Service (NZHIS). The database was linked with the hospital discharge data for the two years ending June 2007, with the NHIs encrypted. Data were analysed for a range of variables and relationships especially related to ethnicity.

Results: Data was obtained from atotal of 345 247 patients in 103 practices. Practices varied widely in their data completion including ethnicity, the latter being unavailable in 7.2% of patients. Ethnicity recording in Partnership Health practice was substantially more complete than national NHI records. Maori in the hospital records was 6.1% compared with 7.0% in the Partnership Health records relating to discharged patients (p < .001). Practice use of special access funding varied widely and was unrelated to need.

Discussion: Despite substantial practice database development, findings point to the need for further collaborative and innovative strategies to improve data recording. Issues needing to be addressed nationally include regular updating and correction of the national NHI set from PHO records. PHO data could, with improvements, become the basis for District Health Board databases. The findings support the current national review of the use of special access funding which appears to be seriously inequitable and inefficient.