MIQUEST = Morbidity Information QUery and Export SynTax
MIQUEST was a cross-system GP query evaluation tool, in which queries could be written in (I think) ‘HQL’ - Health Query Language. Each GP system supplier implemented a MIQUEST interpreter inside their own product.
MIQUEST was essentially the UK NHS’s “standard way” (in the 90s/2000s) to run the same clinical data extraction query across different GP clinical systems and get back results in a predictable text format.
Core components
- HQL (Health Query Language)
A SQL-like query language used to define cohorts, indicators, and counts. - MIQUEST interpreter
Built into GP systems (e.g. EMIS, Vision and others in existence at the time). - Text-based outputs
Results returned as plain text / CSV-style files, suitable for manual return.
Documentation
Not much remains on the public internet from the MIQUEST documentation, possibly because much of the documentation originally lived in supplier manuals, HSCIC/NHS internal guidance, or within local informatics teams. Many materials predate modern web publishing. Also the term “MIQUEST” was often used loosely to mean the whole audit/extraction process as opposed to the specific toolset.
Vision Help pages on MIQUEST
Web: MIQUEST
Internet Archive: MIQUEST