United Kingdom - England and Wales Weekly Returns Service Annual Report 2006

The Weekly Returns Service (WRS) of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) is a sentinel network of general practitioners (GPs) reporting patient morbidity and encounter data. There was an expansion of the practice network in 2006; 28 new practices were recruited, and daily reporting was introduced. By the end of 2006, the WRS network included 106 practices, with a population of approximately 950,000. This annual report includes data on disease incidence gleaned from patient visits. The report describes the representativeness of the WRS, and gives the underlying population numbers by regions, sex, and age groups. Extensive appendices summarize annual incidence rates by sex and age group, at the ICD-9 chapter level, and for a select group of more specific causes. For each group of causes, data are also given on number of episodes and consultations.