The pilot phase of Clinical Dashboards has highlighted many clinical benefits.

Dr Anne Talbot from Bolton PCT told us: "At Bolton, we have in effect two dashboards: one set looks at PIP performance metrics in relation to GPs performance, which allows GPs an insight into their care so that they can indicate what they are doing well and any areas for improvement.

"The second set of metrics relates to urgent care and provides a link from acute health settings into GP practices. The urgent care metrics also link to the disease register and allow GPs to see which of their patients are seeking Out Of Hours medical care. This approach helps to provide a more pro-active approach to the management and co-ordination of patient healthcare.

"As a practicing clinician myself, Clinical Dashboards have allowed me access to data relating to myself as a GP and my practice. This data allows me to compare my own practice to my peer practices in Bolton and allows me to view my performance over a longer period of time.

"Another benefit of the Clinical Dashboards is that we are able to link up primary and acute care settings through the Out Of Hours urgent care metrics. These metrics show which patients are accessing Out Of Hours care and help to join up different aspects of healthcare, giving a more rounded picture."