Guide to data for improving respiratory care

Having access to good, timely data, is one of the most important principles of service improvement work.

Data and measures are important to demonstrate that change has occurred or needs to occur. NHS Improvement - Lung focuses on the delivery of quality measured improvements which are aligned to national priorities and strategies, and in line with the National Quality Innovation Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) initiative. Whether the change was a success or did not demonstrate the anticipated outcomes, you still need to demonstrate its effect and learn from it.

Many of the Project sites that the Lung Improvement Programme has worked with have commented on the difficulties in accessing and using data to support their projects. However, during our COPD projects, our project sites have demonstrated that they all can access and use data to support their projects.

A summary of the resources we've found most useful are listed below, together with examples and case studies from the data site.

Key data sources for benchmarking and reviewing overall service delivery:

• INHALE - the new draft national data resource providing PCT comparisons on around 30 key respiratory measures
• Association of Public Health Observatories Practice Profiles includes a respiratory section covering QOF and Prevalence at a practice level
• NHS Comparators uses SUS and HES data to show and map practice level data and trends for admissions, LoS, and Readmissions

How to analyse your data

• Where to start in analysing local data using service improvement methods
• Understanding and using local prevalence data
• Getting support to access data
• Top tips for sites starting service improvement projects
• Using SPC (Statistical Process Control) charts
• Using data to investigate demand and capacity

Other data sources

• Accessing HES data and what codes to look for
• How to get oxygen data
• Extraction tools for primary care data
• The National COPD Resources and Outcomes Audit – NCROP

Case studies with a data highlight:

Using an innovative data warehouse development to improve respiratory services
London Community Healthcare NHS Trust and Hammersmith and Fulham Primary Care Trust