You may have heard discussions recently about the Electronic Fraility Index (EFI) or you may have even noticed this added to your patient record. This is a contractual requirement placed on us and every single GP surgery across Lancashire and is part of a wider piece of work being carried out by the Integrated Care Board (ICB) who operate and fund the NHS across Lancashire and South Cumbria. The ICB have provided the following statement:
“The addition of the Electronic Frailty Index score is to help identify individuals whom may benefit from further assessment and enable the practice to identify those whom may benefit the most. It is an administration code added to the healthcare record based only on existing information contained in the record. It is not an indicator of a clinical diagnosis of Frailty nor can be used as such. The use of the index score is part of improving quality of care to individuals with frailty across Lancashire and South Cumbria.” Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board
There is simply nothing the surgery can do to update, amend or remove this from your record. It is not something which the surgery or the clinicians are responsible for doing, it has been done automatically. If suregry staff were to delete the code, it will be automatically re-added within 24 hours. We have previously raised concerns with the ICB about the way in which GP surgeries were mandated to carry this out and we have tried to be open and transparent with patients about this by providing the above statement on our website and social media pages.
If you are still unhappy with this policy, then you can contact the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board, Patient Experience Team on: lscicb-fw.patientexperience@nhs.net or call 0300 373 3550.
Useful Links
https://ihub.scot/improvement-programmes/community-care/electronic-frailty-index-efi/