{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,10]],"date-time":"2025-12-10T18:38:49Z","timestamp":1765391929258,"version":"3.46.0"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,10]],"date-time":"2025-12-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1765324800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000269","name":"Economic and Social Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["ES\/W012227\/1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ES\/W012227\/1"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000269","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n                    <jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We developed an efficient Research-Ready Data Asset (RRDA) for the Welsh Longitudinal General Practice (WLGP) data within the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage Databank to standardise curation, enhance reproducibility, and facilitate research on primary care trends. Using this, we investigated primary care activity trends during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The RRDA involves cleaning, curation using GP-registration history, and transforming data into a structured, normalised format to support efficient large-scale queries. A comprehensive clinical code look-up was developed, incorporating official, local, and supplementary categories to enhance event classification. To enable patient-practice interaction analysis, a four-layer approach was developed to capture healthcare providers, access mode, interaction type, and event details. We assessed RRDA coverage, defined as the proportion of residents with shared primary care records, stratified by demographic and geographic factors, using longitudinal binomial Generalised Additive Mixed Models (GAMMs). We categorised GP events into key activity types and summarised averaged daily rates per month per 100,000 people (2000\u20132024), with trends analysed using negative binomial GAMMs.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Curating 4.6 billion records for 5.1 million people (1990\u20132024) revealed significant improvements in data quality and completeness over time, with data retention increased from 40% to 94%, and patient inclusion from 43% to 98%. Use of SNOMED-CT and local codes increased after Read-V2 discontinuation in 2018, while invalid codes declined\u2014reflecting evolving coding practices and improved data quality. WLGP RRDA coverage rose from 35% in 1990 to 86% in 2024, with regional variation but modest demographic differences. From 2000 to 2024, consultation rates rose by 1.9 times, with post-COVID-19 pandemic levels 8% above 2019. Prescription-only activity doubled with little variation associated with the pandemic. Vaccination rates spiked during the pandemic, and remain 1.8 times above pre-pandemic levels. Other less frequent activities were significantly disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic but recovered to 2019 levels.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The WLGP RRDA improves the usability of primary care data, supporting timely, scalable analysis of healthcare delivery and system-level trends.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0338652","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,10]],"date-time":"2025-12-10T18:32:42Z","timestamp":1765391562000},"page":"e0338652","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Creating a Research-Ready Data Asset version of primary care data for Wales and investigating the impact of COVID-19 on utilisation of primary care services"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9575-4758","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Hoda","family":"Abbasizanjani","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5635-5957","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Stuart","family":"Bedston","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0814-0801","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Ashley","family":"Akbari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,10]]},"reference":[{"issue":"641","key":"pone.0338652.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"620","DOI":"10.3399\/bjgp15X687697","article-title":"Access to primary care: creative solutions are needed","volume":"65","author":"R Jones","year":"2015","journal-title":"Br J Gen Pract"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0338652.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"32","DOI":"10.1186\/s12875-019-0921-z","article-title":"The impact of quality and accessibility of primary care on emergency admissions for a range of chronic ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs) in Scotland: longitudinal analysis","volume":"20","author":"M van der Pol","year":"2019","journal-title":"BMC Fam Pract"},{"key":"pone.0338652.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"193","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhealeco.2016.05.002","article-title":"Can increased primary care access reduce demand for emergency care? Evidence from England\u2019s 7-day GP opening","volume":"49","author":"P Dolton","year":"2016","journal-title":"J Health Econ"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0338652.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0054878","article-title":"Optimising use of electronic health records to describe the presentation of rheumatoid arthritis in primary care: a strategy for developing code lists","volume":"8","author":"A Nicholson","year":"2013","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0338652.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.3399\/BJGPO.2023.0057","article-title":"UK research data resources based on primary care electronic health records: review and summary for potential users","volume":"7","author":"L Edwards","year":"2023","journal-title":"BJGP Open"},{"key":"pone.0338652.ref006","unstructured":"Welsh Government. Informed Health and Care: A Digital Health and Social Care Strategy for Wales. https:\/\/www.gov.wales\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/2019-03\/informed-health-and-care-a-digital-health-and-social-care-strategy-for-wales.pdf 2015. 2025 July 7."},{"key":"pone.0338652.ref007","unstructured":"Welsh Government. Virtual doctor appointments rolled out across Wales. Welsh Government. https:\/\/www.gov.wales\/virtual-doctor-appointments-rolled-out-across-wales?utm_source=chatgpt.com 2020. 2025 July 7."},{"key":"pone.0338652.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Aminu AQ, Sinclair DR, Davies K, Hall A, Wiedemann M, O\u2019Neill TW. 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Healthcare use in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A cohort study in three nations of the UK. 2025.","DOI":"10.1101\/2025.04.25.25326408"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0338652.ref015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"420","DOI":"10.1093\/fampra\/cmab141","article-title":"Antibiotic dispensing during the COVID-19 pandemic: analysis of Welsh primary care dispensing data","volume":"39","author":"DR Wasag","year":"2022","journal-title":"Fam Pract"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0338652.ref016","article-title":"Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on community medication dispensing: a national cohort analysis in Wales, UK","volume":"5","author":"F Torabi","year":"2022","journal-title":"Int J Popul Data Sci"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0338652.ref017","article-title":"Analysis of primary care prescription trends in England during the COVID-19 pandemic compared against a predictive model","volume":"9","author":"JS Frazer","year":"2021","journal-title":"Fam Med Community Health"},{"key":"pone.0338652.ref018","unstructured":"NHS E. 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General practice activity: April 2023 to March 2024. https:\/\/www.gov.wales\/general-practice-activity-april-2023-march-2024-html. 2024. 2025 July 21."},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0338652.ref020","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"74","DOI":"10.1186\/s13104-023-06325-y","article-title":"The coding of telephone consultations in UK primary care databases: are we picking up all the calls?","volume":"16","author":"MD Atkinson","year":"2023","journal-title":"BMC Res Notes"},{"key":"pone.0338652.ref021","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.2196\/46485","article-title":"The Use of Online Consultation Systems or Remote Consulting in England Characterized Through the Primary Care Health Records of 53 Million People in the OpenSAFELY Platform: Retrospective Cohort Study","volume":"10","author":"M Fonseca","year":"2024","journal-title":"JMIR Public Health Surveill"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0338652.ref022","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0228545","article-title":"Measuring follow-up time in routinely-collected health datasets: Challenges and solutions","volume":"15","author":"D Thayer","year":"2020","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"pone.0338652.ref023","unstructured":"Welsh Parliament. 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