Data quality tools improve health information
Secondary care data has had a 'clean up' with the help of tools and new standards supplied by the NHS Wales Informatics Service.
The new standards provide health boards and trusts with the ability to 'clean up' their data at the point where they collect it.
The standards are supported by online tools developed by the Information Services team including the NHS Wales Data Dictionary (a definitive guide to definitions and interpretations of nationally-agreed data standards), the National Reference Data Service (a resource for national codes in healthcare) and the Validation at Source Service tool which automatically checks for errors in data, for example alerting users when it discovers a wrong NHS number.
All these tools have recently been upgraded and are designed to enable health boards and trusts to check their data submission for 'errors' and correct them prior to sending the file to the national Data Warehouse.
After the data is sent, it is routinely assessed against national targets using online data quality monitoring reports. Any indicators showing areas that need improvement are highlighted and fed back.
This data contains valuable information in areas such as A&E attendances, inpatient admissions, outpatient attendances, referrals and intensive care. High quality data is vital to allow accurate reporting for service improvement, financial costing, public health monitoring and performance management, as well as for direct patient care.
All apprentices who have been on the scheme have gone on to secure jobs both inside and outside NHS Wales.
