Developing and Testing a National Musculoskeletal Audit in Community and Primary Care Services

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are developing and testing a national audit for musculoskeletal MSK care in community and primary care settings. This observational study aims to collect patient and clinician data to measure and improve the quality and consistency of care for common MSK conditions. The project focuses on using this information to support ongoing quality improvement for MSK patients across different care services. The study involves two groups First Contact Practitioner FCP primary care services and MSK Community Services. Each group will recruit patients who will complete baseline and 3-month questionnaires about their outcomes and experiences. Additionally, organisational data will be collected from service leads and publicly available sources. The FCP group will also provide electronic health record data via a standardized template. Data collection occurs continuously with targeted recruitment numbers per service each year. Participants aged 18 and older with access to phone or email and able to consent will be involved. Researchers will gather patient surveys, organisational characteristics, and electronic health records to create a secure national MSK research database. The main outcome is establishing this database over 12 months. Secondary outcomes include developing dashboards and reports to help with quality improvement. Participation involves completing questionnaires at baseline and three months, with ongoing data collection throughout the study.

The National Musculoskeletal Audit and Research Database