Events During the Reporting Period

• The Department of Health requires performance management information on ELECTIVE ADMISSION LIST events within a specified REPORTING PERIOD.

• The Department of Health uses the information to help monitor national WAITING LIST trends. These are used to develop policies and indicate changes which can enable the WAITING LISTS to be managed more effectively.

• This central information collection requirement is both:

  provider based and is submitted by provider NHS Trust and provider Primary Care Trusts regardless of where PATIENTS live.

  and

  commissioner based and is the aggregation of commissioned PATIENT activity delivered by provider NHS Trusts and provider Primary Care Trusts.

Each submission will be from one ORGANISATION in the role of provider or commissioner and should only contain data appropriate to that role i.e. must not contain a mixture of commissioning and provider role data.

COMMISSIONER OR PROVIDER STATUS INDICATOR indicates whether it is a submission from the ORGANISATION in the role of commissioner of care or provider of care.

Admitted Patient Flow Events

• The collection data is sub grouped by MAIN SPECIALTY CODE. Where no flow activity data for a MAIN SPECIALTY CODE has occurred within the REPORTING PERIOD then no admitted patient flow sub group should be recorded for it. Only one sub group is permitted per MAIN SPECIALTY CODE.
• The collection is for:

  all PATIENTS for whom a DECISION TO ADMIT was taken during the REPORTING PERIOD to place the patients on the Elective Admission List.

  and

  all PATIENTS admitted during the REPORTING PERIOD from the Elective Admission List

  and

  all PATIENTS who giving no advance warning failed to attend for admission from the Elective Admission List during the REPORTING PERIOD

  and

  all PATIENTS who were removed from the Elective Admission List during the REPORTING PERIOD for reasons other than admission

• It includes those PATIENTS who are classified as booked admissions and waiting list admissions; and is inclusive of private PATIENTS and PATIENTS who are Overseas Visitors.

  It excludes those PATIENTS who are classified as planned admissions and Suspended Patients.

  ELECTIVE ADMISSION TYPE records the classification of the admission.

• The collection is sub-divided into a count of day case admissions and ordinary admissions.

  INTENDED MANAGEMENT records whether a PATIENT is intended as an ordinary admission (to stay overnight) or a day case admission (not to stay overnight).

Data collection

• The NHS report data sets to the Department of Health monthly and quarterly via Unify2, an online data collection system. Trusts and Primary Care Trusts can either enter data directly onto Unify2, or upload from spreadsheets provided to ease data input.

• These returns flow through Strategic Health Authorities, and require their sign off before they are accessed by the Department of Health.

• Data providers are required to submit data by the 15th working day following the month end, with publication being on the Friday following the 20th working day after month end.