I have a strange relationship with statistics. Part of me is fascinated by playing with data and messing around in Excel. Spreadsheets and macros can get me excited.

However, the slightly less sad bit of me has no time to do this and just wants important data presented to me in a clear and logical fashion.

I have struggled to get useful information out of the Dr Foster Intelligence and Emis Qute sites, so being asked to review the new NHS Comparators site appealed to both sides of me.

The data miner was keen to have a look at another source of information while the pragmatist was intrigued by the thought that the data would be presented in an easy-to-use, logical way.

Registration
NHS Comparators is presented as 'a free comparative analytical service that enables commissioners and providers to improve the quality of care delivered by benchmarking and comparing activity and costs on a local, regional and national level'.

To access the data, GPs first need to register their details with the NHS Information Centre by calling 0845 300 6016 or emailing enquiries@ic.nhs.uk and asking for the 'NHS Comparators login'. I had to register with an nhs.net email address, so the website should be secure.

NHS Comparators is available from both a real world (www) connection as well as from a N3 connection so you can log in from home. There are more than 200 indicators available and the website is set to continue developing.

Data sources include secondary care activity, GP list sizes (populations), the QOF and prescribing information.

Usability
When you log in, you choose 'commissioner view' or 'provider view', which to my mind is a little confusing.

Effectively, the commissioner view allows you to choose a practice and look at both its quality achievement points and its patients' outcomes in secondary care - for example, COPD admissions.

The provider view allows you to choose a hospital and look at how it is doing in an area such as COPD admissions. Obviously, these patients will come from more than one surgery.

NHS Comparators has a very pretty interface that includes a lot of graphics and works quickly. It is possibly too easy to get lost in the depths. Bizarrely, there were videos without sound that explain how to use the system.

The data is broken up into years and defaults to the most recent year, although you can choose others. Many comparators have cost as well as activity data.

The main menu lists all the indicators in the view you have chosen, and you can expand all of these or select one. A side panel shows more information about the one you are looking at and gives tips on how to interpret each indicator.

On the whole, the NHS Comparators website seems very good, but this would not be a proper review without some criticism.

Room for improvement
The bit of me that just wants easy-to-view information is not satisfied by this site. I would like a way of filtering specifically the indicators that are good or bad. I would like to pick a practice or provider and simply see what they are doing well or poorly.

I would also like the ability to pool practices' data for certain things, because we are increasingly working in practice-based commissioning (PBC) groups. Comparing other PBC groups' data with my own group's could be more useful than comparing PCT-level data.

Ideally, you would see common themes in a PBC group showing up so that if COPD was an issue across the patch, it would be revealed as such.

The comparators are currently expressed in terms of rates per 1,000 registered patients of practice populations, and it would be nice to have the ability to look at weighted populations as well.

The case study NHS Comparators uses to illustrate its usefulness does not explain how it actually helps, and I think some better examples would be useful.

If indeed the site does continue to be developed, I can see myself bookmarking it and visiting it regularly.

• Dr Paul is a GP in Cheshire

Fast facts

www.nhscomparators.nhs.uk or www.ic.nhs.uk/nhscomparators Local, regional and national (England-only) comparative data. More than 200 indicators available; development of the site is ongoing. Includes secondary care activity, GP list sizes (populations), QOF and prescribing information. Choice of 'commissioner view' or 'provider view'. Register for NHS Comparators with the NHS Information Centre by calling 0845 300 6016 or by emailing enquiries@ic.nhs.uk and asking for the 'NHS Comparators login'.