Data collection is poor because staff don't see the point
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《英国医生杂志》
Too few doctors and nurses understand the reasons why collecting information on how their hospital or department is performing matters, says a report from the public spending watchdog, the Audit Commission.
Better understanding by frontline staff of what auditors are trying to achieve through the collection of data in the NHS, and through the wider use of the data collected in the staff抯 own work, could improve its quality, says the Audit Commission in its latest report, Information and Data Quality in the NHS.
The report looks at how the management of data quality in NHS trusts, primary care trusts, and mental health trusts has changed in the past three years. Overall it found that data collected in the NHS has improved. However, mental health trusts in particular were especially poor at data collection and need to act urgently to improve the reliability of their information, says the report.
The weakest part of the process for collecting data was the day to day practice of data entry, said the commission. Better training and supervision for the staff doing this job might help to improve the quality of the data, it advises.
The commission also recommends that the Department of Health, the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection, and other relevant agencies need to work together more closely if the quality of data is to continue to get better and have its desired impact on health services.
The report also gave its findings from spot checks on how 55 trusts collected waiting list data. Results were generally reliable, it said, but one hospital—Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust—manipulated the data to enhance its performance. Dishonest recording is rare, says the report, and the commission recommends that spot checks are suspended in the future in favour of a new way of assessing waiting list data that fits more closely with everyday management procedures.
In its conclusions the commission says: "Our experience suggests that, at a local level, corporate leadership on data and information quality is vital, but is not in itself enough. It has to be carried through into the everyday activity of staff at all levels. However, one of the biggest factors underlying poor data quality is the lack of understanding among frontline staff of the reasons, and the benefits of, the information they are collecting.
"The information collected is too often seen as irrelevant to patient care and focused on the needs of the 慶entre?rather than frontline service delivery. In particular, more effort is needed to involve clinical staff in validating and using information produced."(London Zosia Kmietowicz)
Better understanding by frontline staff of what auditors are trying to achieve through the collection of data in the NHS, and through the wider use of the data collected in the staff抯 own work, could improve its quality, says the Audit Commission in its latest report, Information and Data Quality in the NHS.
The report looks at how the management of data quality in NHS trusts, primary care trusts, and mental health trusts has changed in the past three years. Overall it found that data collected in the NHS has improved. However, mental health trusts in particular were especially poor at data collection and need to act urgently to improve the reliability of their information, says the report.
The weakest part of the process for collecting data was the day to day practice of data entry, said the commission. Better training and supervision for the staff doing this job might help to improve the quality of the data, it advises.
The commission also recommends that the Department of Health, the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection, and other relevant agencies need to work together more closely if the quality of data is to continue to get better and have its desired impact on health services.
The report also gave its findings from spot checks on how 55 trusts collected waiting list data. Results were generally reliable, it said, but one hospital—Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust—manipulated the data to enhance its performance. Dishonest recording is rare, says the report, and the commission recommends that spot checks are suspended in the future in favour of a new way of assessing waiting list data that fits more closely with everyday management procedures.
In its conclusions the commission says: "Our experience suggests that, at a local level, corporate leadership on data and information quality is vital, but is not in itself enough. It has to be carried through into the everyday activity of staff at all levels. However, one of the biggest factors underlying poor data quality is the lack of understanding among frontline staff of the reasons, and the benefits of, the information they are collecting.
"The information collected is too often seen as irrelevant to patient care and focused on the needs of the 慶entre?rather than frontline service delivery. In particular, more effort is needed to involve clinical staff in validating and using information produced."(London Zosia Kmietowicz)