These queries examine the presence of some important diagnoses which are not included in the QOF. Whilst some of these are not very common conditions, they are all sufficiently prevalent to appear at least once in each 1000 patients; dependent on the profile of the population at risk (a student health service will have a very different prevalence to a practice in an area of largely retired people and nursing homes). Some appeared in the IM&T DES prevalence queries, so there are already representative national means available but there are new additions.

The starting point for a practice examining its recorded prevalence will be to compare its results with national averages and in similar demographic situations. Extreme deviations from the mean in individual elements or across the board results that are higher or lower than the mean should provoke further investigation for causes-is this a reflection of true levels of morbidity or the results of a data recording problem.

The second area of this library expands on the Drug to Disease queries included in the IM&T DES library. This set is currently in development.

There are more queries planned which will be added to the set over the coming months.