# MIQUEST (stub)

**Category:** [wiki](https://openhealthhub.org/c/wiki/61)
**Created:** 2026-02-12 00:06 UTC
**Views:** 15
**Replies:** 2
**URL:** https://openhealthhub.org/t/miquest-stub/2927

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## Post #1 by @pacharanero

MIQUEST = **M**orbidity **I**nformation **QU**ery and **E**xport **S**yn**T**ax

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**: https://help.visionhealth.co.uk/Vision_Front_Screen_Help_Centre/Content/Front_Screen_Help/MIQUEST.htm
**Internet Archive**: https://web.archive.org/web/20260227095509/https://help.visionhealth.co.uk/Vision_Front_Screen_Help_Centre/Content/Front_Screen_Help/MIQUEST.htm

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## Post #2 by @mayfield.g.kev

It's amusing looking back how modern this was. It is a bit like this https://build.fhir.org/ig/FHIR/sql-on-fhir-v2/index.html, this might have been an option if miquest continued

It's essentially a federated analytics data platform which does away with the need to create large central databases, it has less information governance concerns (as it's not centralised).

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## Post #3 by @pacharanero

Yes, and it was federated for real as opposed to using the word 'Federated' to hide the degree of centralisation.

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**Canonical:** https://openhealthhub.org/t/miquest-stub/2927
**Original content:** https://openhealthhub.org/t/miquest-stub/2927