Community Health Index (Scotland)
Encyclopedia
The Community Health Index is a register of all patients in NHS Scotland
, Scotland
's publicly funded healthcare system
. The register exists to ensure that patients can be correctly identified, and that all information pertaining to a patient's health
is available to providers of care.
Patients are identified using a ten-digit number known as the CHI Number. This number is normally formed using the patient's date of birth followed by four digits: two digits randomly generated, the third digit identifying gender
at birth (odd for men, even for women) and a check digit
.
As of November 2009, uptake of this number varied across Scotland from 96.0% to 99.8%.
NHS Scotland
NHS Scotland is the publicly funded healthcare system of Scotland. Although they are separate bodies the organisational separation between NHS Scotland and the other three healthcare organisations each commonly called the National Health Service in the United Kingdom tends to be hidden from its...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
's publicly funded healthcare system
Publicly-funded health care
Publicly funded health care is a form of health care financing designed to meet the cost of all or most health care needs from a publicly managed fund. Usually this is under some form of democratic accountability, the right of access to which are set down in rules applying to the whole population...
. The register exists to ensure that patients can be correctly identified, and that all information pertaining to a patient's health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
is available to providers of care.
Patients are identified using a ten-digit number known as the CHI Number. This number is normally formed using the patient's date of birth followed by four digits: two digits randomly generated, the third digit identifying gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
at birth (odd for men, even for women) and a check digit
Check digit
A check digit is a form of redundancy check used for error detection, the decimal equivalent of a binary checksum. It consists of a single digit computed from the other digits in the message....
.
As of November 2009, uptake of this number varied across Scotland from 96.0% to 99.8%.