2016 Health Profiles

Public Health England has published the 2016 Health Profiles. The Health Profiles provide a snapshot of health and wellbeing for each local authority in England using a range of charts and text. They pull together existing information in one place and contain data on a range of indicators for local populations.

Access them here.

Patterns of maternity care in English NHS trusts 2013/14

"This is the second report that the RCOG has published describing patterns of maternity care practice and outcomes within the English NHS using data routinely collected by NHS hospitals. The first report presented a set of clinically relevant and technically robust indicators, developed by a panel of clinical and methodological experts. It revealed that NHS maternity units in England were achieving similar outcomes but that there were large degrees of variation in some areas of practice. This second edition revises and extends the suite of indicators, thereby aiming to improve the quality of information available to NHS maternity services to use for performance assessment and quality improvement."

Patterns of maternity care in English NHS trusts 2013/14
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists
March 2016

Read more here.

The European health report 2015

"The gaps between the highest and lowest values reported in the Region for the Health 2020 indicators linked to social determinants of health – infant mortality, life expectancy, primary school enrolment and unemployment – have shrunk, but the absolute differences between countries remain large."

The European health report 2015: Targets and beyond - reaching new frontiers in evidence
WHO Regional Office for Europe
October 2015

Read more here.

Indicators of quality of care in general practices in England

"The review makes a series of recommendations to government, including:

• developing a small set of indicators that show information about what matters most to the public, health care professionals and those accountable for the quality of general practice
• consolidating the multiple existing websites currently sharing information about general practice quality, with information selected and presented to meet the differing needs of health care professionals and the public
• developing a national strategy for improving the quality of general practice and primary care that guides indicator development, with progress assessed through the Secretary of State’s annual report
• providing support to those working in general practice about how to understand and use information to improve patient care."

Indicators of quality of care in general practices in England: An independent review for the Secretary of State for Health
J Dixon, E Spencelayh, A Howells, A Mandel, F Gille
The Health Foundation
October 2015

Read more here.

Measuring the performance of local health systems

"This report summarises the results of a rapid review of how to assess the performance of local health systems through the lens of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). The review was commissioned by the Department of Health who asked The King’s Fund to advise on the ‘first principles’ of a local health system scorecard for the NHS in England."

Measuring the performance of local health systems: a review for the Department of Health
C Ham, V Raleigh, C Foot, R Robertson, H Alderwick
The King's Fund
October 2015

Read more here.

Identifying unwarranted variation across mental health and wellbeing indicators in England

"Within the health and social care system in England, there is a major challenge to deliver value at low costs, whilst reducing unwarranted variation in outcomes, quality, safety and costs and working to prevent disease. Despite data being available, this is the first Atlas of Variation to focus solely on unwarranted variation in mental health in England."

The CentreForum Atlas of Variation: Identifying unwarranted variation across mental health and wellbeing indicators in England
H Taggart
CentreForum
July 2014

Read more here.

Unexpectedly long hospital stays as an indicator of risk of unsafe care

"The unexpectedly long length of stay (UL-LOS) indicator is a useful addition to other patient safety indicators by revealing variation between hospitals and areas of possible patient safety improvement."

Unexpectedly long hospital stays as an indicator of risk of unsafe care: an exploratory study
I Borghans, KD Hekkert, L den Ouden, S Cihangir, J Vesseur, RB Kool, GP Westert
BMJ Open, 2014;4:e004773

Read more here.

Health Profiles

"Health Profiles provide summary health information to support local authority members, officers and community partners to lead for health improvement."

Access the Health Profiles here.

Patterns of maternity care in English NHS hospitals 2011/12

"The work presented in this report was focused to defining intrapartum care indicators that can be robustly derived at hospital level using Hospital Episode Statistics data. Further work is needed to understand the relationships between the indicators as well as patterns of care that can be observed within hospitals."

Patterns of maternity care in English NHS hospitals
H Knight, et al.
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
2013

Read more here.

Public Health Outcomes Framework for England, 2013-2016

"The new Public Health Outcomes Framework that has been published is in three parts:

• Part 1 introduces the overarching vision for public health, the outcomes we want to achieve and the indicators that will help us understand how well we are improving and protecting health.
• Part 2 specifies all the technical details we can currently supply for each public health indicator and indicates where we will conduct further work to fully specify all indicators.
• Part 3 consists of the impact assessment and equalities impact assessment."

Public Health Outcomes Framework for England, 2013-2016
Department of Health
January 2012

Read more here.

Child health profiles

"Child Health Profiles provide a snapshot of child health and well-being for each local authority in England using key health indicators, which enables comparison locally, regionally and nationally. By using the profiles local organisations can work in partnership to plan and commission evidence-based services based on local need."

Child health profiles
Child and Maternal Health Observatory (from 01/04/13 part of Public Health England)
March 2013

Access the child health profiles here.

Quality improvement programme, focusing on error reduction

"When monitored as part of a quality improvement strategy, ‘missed’ and ‘uncharted’ drug dose information may reflect wider institutional changes and act as a valid indicator of quality of healthcare more generally."

Quality improvement programme, focusing on error reduction: a single center naturalistic study
D Rosser, NJ Cowley, D Ray, PG Nightingale, T Jones, J Moore, JJ Coleman
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Short Reports, 2012, 3(6):36-42

Read more here.

How to measure for improving outcomes

The King's Fund has produced two slide sets to help Clinical Commissioning Groups make the best use of measurement to support them to commission for improved outcomes.

How to measure for improving outcomes: a guide for commissioners
The King's Fund
August 2012

Read more here.

The NICE Commissioning Outcomes Framework Indicator Programme

The Commissioning Outcomes Framework (COF) Advisory Committee have recommended a set of 44 indicators, which have been identified from NICE quality standards, the NHS Outcomes Framework and other existing indicator collections such as national audits. A selection of final indicators will be considered by the NHS Commissioning Board in autumn 2012 for inclusion in the 2013/14 COF.

Read more here.

Healthcare across the UK

"This report identifies key trends and variations in the delivery of healthcare across the four nations of the UK, and highlights where further examination may help determine those practices that could deliver better value for money."

Healthcare across the UK: a comparison of the NHS in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
National Audit Office
June 2012

Read more here.

The barriers and facilitators to routine outcome measurement by allied health professionals in practice

"Routine outcome measurement may only be deliverable if appropriate action is taken at individual therapist, team, and organisational levels of an organisation."

The barriers and facilitators to routine outcome measurement by allied health professionals in practice: a systematic review
EAS Duncan, J Murray
BMC Health Services Research, 2012, 12:96

Read more here.

NHS Better Care, Better Value Indicators

Better Care Better Value indicators identify potential areas for improvement in efficiency, which may include commissioners re-designing and shifting services away from the traditional setting of the hospital and out towards community based care.

View the indicators here.

The NHS Outcomes Framework 2012/13

"This document sets out the changes that have been made to the indicators in the NHS Outcomes Framework. It builds on  The NHS Outcomes Framework 2011/12 and The NHS Outcomes 2011/12: Technical details of indicators, and is designed to help NHS organisations to  start to think through what a focus on outcomes means in practical terms."

The NHS Outcomes Framework 2012/13
Department of Health
December 2012

Read more here.

Equity dimension in evaluations of the Quality and Outcomes Framework

"Introducing different targets for specific patient groups and including appropriate, non-disease specific and patient-centred indicators that grasp the complexity of primary care might refine the equity dimension of the evaluation of QOF."

The equity dimension in evaluations of the Quality and Outcomes Framework: a systematic review
P Boeckxstaens, D De Smedt, J De Maeseneer, L Annemans, S Willems
BMC Health Services Research, 2011, 11:209

Read more here.

A&E clinical quality indicators

"A&E sites following this guidance will ensure that locally published information on the indicators provides an accurate, transparent and comparable reflection of their performance."


A&E clinical quality indicators: best practice guidance for local publication
Department of Health
23 June 2011

Read more here.