BACKGROUND QUALITY REPORT - NORTHERN IRELAND WAITING TIME STATISTICS - DIAGNOSTIC WAITING TIMES
Last Reviewed: 12 April 2024
Introduction
Context for the quality report.
This statistical release presents information on waiting times and reporting times for diagnostic services in Northern Ireland and reports on the performance of the Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts against the draft Ministerial waiting time target and diagnostic reporting turnaround target. Data are presented by HSC Trust, diagnostic category, diagnostic test, and time band.
Hospital Information Branch (HIB) introduced methodology for the collection of diagnostic waiting time information at the beginning of 2008, and for reporting turnaround time (DRTT) information in 2010.
The Code of Practice for Statistics states that statistical methods should be consistent with scientific principles and internationally recognised best practices and be fully documented. Quality should be monitored and assured taking account of internationally agreed practices. The full text of the Code is available at:
https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/
Each Official and National Statistics output produced by Hospital Information Branch (HIB) within the Department of Health (DoH) contains key quality information in respect of the specific content of the statistical output. This information is provided in the definitions, notes to tables or notes to editors.
Relevance
The degree to which the statistical product meets user needs in both coverage and content.
The statistical release details information on the number of patients waiting, and length of time waiting, for a diagnostic service in HSC Trusts at quarter’s end. This data is presented in relation to 9 and 26 week draft ministerial targets, including a breakdown by HSC Trust and diagnostic test.
Further information is presented regarding the number of diagnostic tests reported on during the relevant quarter, and the proportion meeting the 2 day draft ministerial target.
Data contained in this release are published primarily to provide an indication of HSC performance. They allow the public and the DoH Health Committee to assess the performance of the DoH, Strategic Planning and Performance Group (SPPG) and HSC Trusts in providing timely access to hospital services in Northern Ireland.
These data also provide policy makers with the necessary information to formulate and evaluate health services and are helpful in assessing the effectiveness of resource allocation in providing services that are fully responsive to patient needs.
Additionally, hospital waiting time information is used to inform the media, special interest groups, academics, and by the DoH to respond to parliamentary/assembly questions and ad hoc queries from the public. An additional aim of this publication is to make waiting time information publicly available to those people using health services in Northern Ireland.
Feedback from HSC Trusts and SPPG is routinely sought to ensure both the methodology and presentation of this report continue to evolve to suit user needs.
Accuracy and Reliability
The proximity between an estimate and the unknown true value.
The information presented in this bulletin derives from a series of DoH statistical returns provided by Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts. These returns are collated in Access databases, with 100% and 10% checks performed on each upload.
All waiting time information presented in this bulletin has been validated and quality assured by HIB in conjunction with HSC Trusts prior to publication.
Data is validated through queried anomalies or fluctuations within each combination of test type, HSC Trust and banded number of weeks waiting. HSC Trusts confirm the accuracy of queried figures, along with a high-level explanation for anomalies. Where necessary, HSC Trusts provide amendments with corrected figures.
HSC Trusts are then given time to either confirm these fluctuations with an explanation provided for the change or to provide amended values before confirming their satisfaction with the data for publication.
On 9 November 2023 the South Eastern Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust launched ‘encompass’ - a new electronic patient record system. The system also went live in Belfast HSC Trust on 6 June 2024 and in Northern HSC Trust on 7 November 2024, and its rollout across the other Trusts will continue in 2025.
The ‘Diagnostic Waiting Times Publication – Supporting Documentation’ booklet details the technical guidance and definitions used, as well as notes on how to use the data contained within this statistical release. This booklet is available to view or download from:
https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/diagnostic-waiting-times-supporting-documentation
Previous data are revised if necessary and appropriate. All revisions are conducted in line with HIB’s Revisions Policy which can be found in the Statistics Charter online at:
https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/doh-statistics-charter
Timeliness and Punctuality
Timeliness refers to the time gap between publication and the reference period. Punctuality refers to the gap between planned and actual publication dates.
Data is published on a quarterly basis on the last Thursday of the month, two months after the end of the reporting period.
The ‘Schedule of Publications’, which provides twelve months advance notice of releases, is available at:
https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/statistical-releases-calendar
In the majority of cases, the target publication deadlines are met. However, in the event of a change to a pre-announced release date, the delay is announced, explained and updated regularly.
Accessibility and Clarity
Accessibility is the ease with which users are able to access the data, also reflecting the format in which the data are available and the availability of supporting information. Clarity refers to the quality and sufficiency of the metadata, illustrations and accompanying advice.
The statistical publication is publicly available to download free of charge in HTML format at:
https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/articles/diagnostic-waiting-times
The statistical tables are also available to download in CSV format, suitable for further analysis, from this webpage. If requested, HIB can provide documents in other formats.
Data quality issues are outlined at the end of the data file, and full metadata is available in an online guidance document, available at:
https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/diagnostic-waiting-times-supporting-documentation
The publication is also accessible through the UK National Statistics Publication Hub at:
Coherence and Comparability
Coherence is the degree to which data that are derived from different sources or methods, but refer to the same topic, are similar. Comparability is the degree to which data can be compared over time and domain.
There is currently no other official source of information regarding waiting times for diagnostic services or for diagnostic reporting turnaround times in Northern Ireland.
Users may misinterpret waiting time data as the average time patients wait within each specialty. Documentation provided clarifies that data refers to the length of time patients were waiting at a specific point in time. Patients included within this data may have only recently been added to the waiting list. Thus, waiting times reported may not correlate with the total expected wait for any procedure.
It is expected that there will be some compatibility issues with the legacy source and encompass data. These will be assessed fully once all HSC Trusts are on encompass.
Between March 2008 and June 2010, all patients waiting over 26 weeks for an endoscopy were included in the ‘>26 Week’ time band.
From the quarter ending September 2010, patients waiting over 26 weeks for an endoscopy were split into time bands ‘>26 - 36 weeks’ and ‘> 36 weeks’.
From the quarter ending June 2013, patients waiting over 26 weeks for an endoscopy were once more grouped into a single time band, ‘> 26 weeks’.
From the quarter ending September 2018 onwards, all patients waiting over 26 weeks have been split into the time bands ‘>26 - 36 weeks’, ‘>36 - 52 weeks’, ‘>52 - 65 weeks’, ‘>65 - 78 weeks’ and ‘>78 weeks’.
Whilst this affects the comparability of individual time bands across a time series, the number of patients breaching targets in each period is clearly reported and remains comparable across all reported quarters.
While it is our intention to direct users to waiting time information elsewhere in the UK, users should be aware that hospital waiting times in other administrations are not always measured in a comparable manner to those in Northern Ireland. Details of the hospital waiting times published elsewhere in the UK can be found as detailed below.
England
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/
Scotland
http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Waiting-Times/Publications/
Wales
Statisticians in all four home nations have collaborated as part of the ‘UK Comparative Waiting Times Group’. Technical documents are available from the Governmental Statistical Service (GSS) at:
Trade-offs between Output Quality Components
Trade-offs are the extent to which different aspects of quality are balanced against each other.
The information detailed in this release is collected, processed, and reported to a high level of quality. Feedback and suggestions for improvement are sought from both data providers and users.
Assessment of User Needs and Perceptions
The processes for finding out about users and uses, and their views on the statistical products.
Data presented in this publication helps to meet the information needs of a wide range of internal and external users.
Waiting time data are used in:
Ministerial answers to both Written and Oral Assembly questions
Departmental responses to correspondence received from the NI Assembly Health Committee, Public Accounts Committee, Northern Ireland Audit Office and other stakeholder bodies such as the Patient Client Council
Ministerial briefing material
Health compendium publications
Outside government, the information in these statistical publications is used by a number of charities, voluntary organisations, journalists and members of the general public. It is also used by researchers looking at HSC Trust performance and by service users and other members of the public to hold HSC Trusts and government to account.
User feedback is invited in this publication. Readers are provided with contact details for the relevant statistician.
We gain awareness of users of our data from ad hoc requests for information and from the receipt of invitations to relevant meetings and conferences.
Users’ needs are prioritised, taking account of the resources available.
Performance, Cost and Respondent Burden
The effectiveness, efficiency and economy of the statistical output.
Data are sourced from various administrative/imaging systems at each HSC Trust. HSC Trust data managers have advised that compiling these returns poses minimal burden on resources.
Data validations are currently submitted by HIB staff to HSC staff electronically. Validation processes are routinely reviewed to minimise burden on all parties. Feedback to reduce the burden of producing this dataset is sought on a routine basis.
Confidentiality, Transparency and Security
The procedures and policy used to ensure sound confidentiality, security and transparent practices.
All statistical information returns are pre-defined MS Excel templates which collect aggregate information and therefore do not include personal information.
All data held by IAD is kept on a secure network and is only accessible by relevant staff.
The Department of Health Data Protection policy statement can be found at:
https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/articles/dhssps-data-protection-policy-statement
Information Analysis Directorate’s commitment to Confidentiality and Security can be found at:
https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/doh-statistics-charter/ (pg.8)