Organising primary prevention: an approach by multifactorial risk score profile

Interventions on individual risk factors are most effective when directed at those with highest absolute risk. Joint British Society Guidelines and National Service Frameworks (NSF) indicate that these individuals should be identified. There is a need to continuously categorise the population by risk to identify those for primary prevention. This article describes a project that was set up to use clinical information technology in an innovative way. It was introduced as an administrative routine for the whole population of a large district (Blyth Valley, Northumberland) through the general practices to which the patients belong.