Unveiling our 2024/25 member work programme

We are thrilled to introduce our member work programme for 2024/25.

The new member work programme has innovation, collaboration, shared learning and high-quality data at its heart. Whether you are an existing member or considering joining our community, we feel there is something in this work programme that will benefit you and your organisation.

Members can look forward to engaging projects, interactive events and insightful data aimed at addressing key challenges and delivering opportunities across all sectors.

Registration for the 2024/25 member projects begins from March, with data collection beginning from April. Please make sure you renew your membership so you don’t miss out.

Membership renewals
We’d like to thank each of our members for being a part of our benchmarking community in 2023/24. Our team will be reaching out to all designated Product (membership) Leads over the coming weeks. Please look out for communications from Kim Burton, Network Development Manager, including a NHSBN membership renewal letter and information on next steps.

Not yet a member?
If you are from a non-member organisation, we invite you to have a conversation about how the 2024/25 member work programme can support you. Please get in touch with the Support Team to arrange this.

National Audit of Care at the End of Life (NACEL) 2024 – What next?

Firstly, we’d like to thank everybody who attended our warm up event a few weeks ago. We’re thrilled to have welcomed nearly 300 attendees on the call. We hope you found the session worthwhile in helping you prepare for NACEL 2024. If you’d like to rewatch any of the session, you can access the recording and slides through the warm up event page via the NACEL portal.

At the moment, NACEL registration is in full swing. Data collection for NACEL will be opening on 1st of January 2024. If you haven’t yet registered, now is the time to do so!

Before participating, it’s key to understand some of the key changes that will incorporate NACEL 2024, such as a new reporting tool to easily identify improvement with benchmarking at differing system levels and quality improvement support for audit participants.

We are also delighted to confirm that we’ve increased the accessibility of the Quality Survey. The survey of the bereaved person’s feedback is now available in the 10 main languages spoken in England and Wales, as well as English and Welsh. The translated versions of the Quality Survey can be printed and handed to people to complete. The translated surveys are available here.

You can do a number of things to prepare for NACEL 2024:

• Review the NACEL guidance notes and questionnaires, available to download from the audit guidance page of the website

• We recommend that you suspend local bereavement surveys whilst participating in the  NACEL Quality Survey.

• Consider whether you will implement the NACEL Quality Survey from the 1st of January, and how and when is best to communicate this information e.g., during the collection of the death certificate, via an electronic messaging system, posters, etc. Example Quality Survey promotional resources are available: poster, leaflet and letter.

• If your organisation has a bereavement office, we recommend contacting the team for help and advice.

• Decide whether you will distribute an online Quality Survey link/QR code, or distribute the paper version.

• Explore whether your organisation complies with the national data opt-out and where this information is stored. The national data opt-out is a service that allows patients to opt out of their confidential patient information being used for research and planning. It is the organisation’s responsibility to ensure that the appropriate patient data is submitted to the NACEL 2024 Case Note Review.

Keep an eye out for further communications to be released by the NACEL team. You can find out all the latest information by accessing our new portal here: https://www.nacel.nhs.uk

If you have any questions, please contact the NACEL team here: nhsbn.nacelsupport@nhs.net

Improvements to our validation process

The NHS Benchmarking Network takes pride in the quality of the data we collect from, and share with, our members. A significant part of ensuring the quality of this data is the validation process undertaken following every data collection period.

Whilst essential, this process can be complex and time consuming; both for the Network team and for participating members, and this has historically been managed via email. But 2023 saw the introduction and testing of a new approach.

For the first time, participating organisations were able to view and respond to validation queries directly via our Members’ Area through a new dedicated validations page, resulting in a smoother process for all involved, improved response rates to validation queries, and an overall improvement to the quality of data in our toolkits.

These updates were driven by user feedback, both within the team and from participating members, and are the result of a collaborative effort between the sector teams and our Development Hub.

The team continue to look for ways of improving our Members’ Area and making the process of data collection simpler for our members, and there will be more updates to come in 2024.

London Mental Health Dashboard Launches Major Updates for Improved User Experience

The London Mental Health Dashboard makes available London’s key mental health data in an easy to use format, developed by the NHS Benchmarking Network on behalf of the London Mental Health Transformation Programme, and supported by the London Mental Health Board, commissioners, and providers of mental health care across London.

NHSBN have rolled out significant improvements to the Dashboard. These improvements include a metric review, improved navigation and a refresh to the branding to provide a more user-friendly interface and easier access to vital mental health data for stakeholders across London.

The Dashboard updates include:

Metric Review:
A comprehensive review of 276 metrics resulted in updates to 121
155 metrics were retired due to data source changes.
42 were refreshed in September and the remaining 80 to follow as new data becomes available.     

Improved Data Clarity:
Users can now access detailed metadata for better understanding of metric sources and calculations.

Streamlined Navigation:
Rationalised Toolkit and Outcomes section incorporated into one single toolkit section.
The navigation has been revamped for simplicity, including a review of the tier structure within the Toolkit section to make metrics easier to find.     

Refreshed Look:
The Dashboard has undergone a complete rebranding for a more modern appearance.  

Access the new look London Mental Health Dashboard at https://lmh.nhsbenchmarking.nhs.uk to explore these updates and access valuable mental health insights for London's healthcare providers and commissioners.

These updates demonstrate the ongoing commitment of NHS Benchmarking Network and its partners to advancing mental health care, ensuring easier access to crucial data and a better experience for all users.

Accessing code sharing under the new Terms of Membership

In our ongoing efforts to provide valuable resources and tools to our members, we updated our Terms of Membership (communicated throughout August and September). The update allows opted-in submitting member organisations to access the unique identifier codes of their peers who have chosen to share data, fostering greater collaboration and insight in our benchmarking projects. 

“Show codes” feature
We are excited to introduce the “show codes” feature, which is available on the 2023 toolkit for membership projects on the members’ area. This feature provides opted-in submitting member organisation access to the unique identifier codes of other opted-in submitting members, helping you to connect, collaborate, and leverage the collective knowledge and expertise within the NHSBN community.

Who can access “show codes”?
The “show codes” button is exclusively available to users with the following permissions from an opted-in submitting member organisation:

• Product (membership) Lead

• Deputy Product Lead

• Project Lead

• Deputy Project Lead

If you hold any of these roles for an opted-in submitting member organisation, you can access the unique identifier codes of other opted-in submitting members associated with the projects your organisation participates in.

How to access
Accessing the outputs and submission codes is simple and user friendly. Follow these steps:

1. Log in to the NHSBN members’ area using your login credentials.

2. Navigate to the project output page of a project that your organisation has participated in.

3. Open the full project toolkit and select the 2023 year.

4. Look for the “show codes” button at the top of the toolkit.

5. Click on the button to reveal the list of opted-in submitting members who are connected to that specific project. Their unique identifier codes will be displayed for your reference.

This is NHSBN’s first step with code sharing between our member organisations. We understand from some members that they wish for further sharing we will explore this further. In the meantime, we hope that the feature supports members with collaboration and shared learning.

If you have any queries, please contact the Support Team.

The British Society for Heart Failure Strategic Partnership of the 25in25 Initiative

NHSBN is pleased announce its partnership with The British Society for Heart Failure (BSH)  along with PRIMIS and Strategic Intelligence Alliance in Healthcare.

The collaborative of expert partners is for the ‘discover and develop’ pilot phase of the 25in25 quality improvement implementation programme beginning early 2024. The national rollout will follow in 2025. The objective is to achieve the BSH led 25in25 ambition to reduce deaths due to heart failure by 25% in the next 25 years. This translates to over 10,000 lives saved annually.

Background
The BSH, the professional association for heart failure care in the UK, aims to increase knowledge and promote research about the diagnosis, causes, management, and consequences of heart failure amongst healthcare professionals. Their intention is to delay or prevent the onset of heart failure and improve care for patients with heart failure. To learn more, please visit: https://www.bsh.org.uk

Overview
With heart failure rates set to double by 2040, we must come together as communities to detect and treat heart failure much earlier. Hence, the aim of the pilot programme is to create a ‘dashboard’ from ‘discover and develop’ insights and data gathered from General Practice records across 4 domains;

• risk analysis,

• diagnosis,

• guideline directed medical therapy and

• quality of life measures such as mental health and wellbeing.

Partners
Announced as partners by the BSH at the inaugural meeting of selected pilot sites, NHS Benchmarking Network PRIMIS and the Strategic Intelligence Alliance in Healthcare will initially collaborate to develop the coding and tools necessary to collect the data. We will work alongside selected health systems to validate the search criteria and drive quality improvements that result in better and more equitable heart failure care. Additionally, the 25in25 programme will support improved outcomes in patients with long term conditions leading to heart failure, and to address health inequalities by tackling disparities of access, experience, and outcomes in under-served patient groups. An area that is so important to us here at the Network .

NHS Benchmarking Network (NHSBN) provides dashboards and reports for its members and delivers multiple national clinical audits, such as CVDPREVENT, and bespoke projects to support NHS planning and service improvement. NHSBN uses data tools and insight to share excellent practice through findings events throughout the year. NHSBN will be responsible for the national rollout of the dashboard to be developed from analysis of data gathered from the pilot communities.

Sarah Atkinson, Managing Director of NHSBN, commented: “NHSBN has the necessary infrastructure, expertise, and experience to deliver the national rollout of this important initiative. The data gathered at community level through this programme may also help us, in conjunction with PRIMIS, to inform and develop future indicators for audit use.”

PRIMIS, a specialist team of health informaticians within the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham, provide expert advice on the intelligent use of primary care data to the NHS, academics, and industry partners and their tools and training programmes support behavioural change in general practice, often involving the widespread scale and adoption of healthcare innovations.

The Strategic Intelligence Alliance in Healthcare (SIA4H), an experienced business intelligence team able to build complex models to help analyse available healthcare data, using a wide range of different datasets to gain insights and understanding.

Health Services Investigations Body (HSIB) Releases Ground-breaking Report on Caring for Adults with Learning Disabilities in Acute Hospitals

NHS Benchmarking Network are pleased to be involved in this important investigation as the providers of the NHS England Learning Disability Improvement Standards Benchmarking Project.  This data collection has been designed to understand the extent of organisational compliance with the NHSE Learning Disability Improvement Standards and identify improvement opportunities.

The Network are proud of the incredible amount of insight available for providers and systems through this project and our broader developments around mental health, learning disabilities and autism.  Our ambition through all of our work is drive improvements in patient outcomes, raise health standards and deliver quality health and care services through data excellence, benchmarking and sharing of innovation.

Key findings from insight from the LDIS Project include:

• The health and care system is not always designed to effectively care for people with a learning disability.

• People with a learning disability who are admitted to an acute hospital are often cared for by staff without specialist training, skills and experience in working with people with a learning disability. These staff often have limited support and are unable to take the time they would like to meet the person’s needs.

• There is no standard model or national guidance for an acute learning disability liaison service (that is, teams that are specifically trained in caring for people with a learning disability). Consequently, there is variation in how these services are funded, their availability, the size of teams and what they are expected to do.

• Staff in acute hospitals may lack confidence and support in assessing the mental capacity of people with a learning disability, in line with the Mental Capacity Act (2005).

• There is no national shared system with a single point of access for storing and managing information about the needs of people with a learning disability and the reasonable adjustments required for each individual.

• Current mechanisms for sharing information about a person – such as ‘care passports’ (a document that gives staff helpful information about the person’s health and social needs, including their preferred method of communication, likes and dislikes) and alert flags (a way to highlight key information to staff) on the electronic patient record – can be unreliable. Instead, information is often gathered from friends and family.

• Evidence exists that people with a learning disability experience health inequities. Long-held societal beliefs about the abilities of people with a learning disability may influence the provision of and decisions made around their care

• The quality of learning disability services is currently monitored via the Learning Disability Improvement Standards annual benchmarking survey which is funded until the end of 2023/24. Decisions on future years have yet to be made.

Round 5 of the LDIS Project includes requests for providers to share findings with Integrated Care Boards.  Particular recommendations for Integrated Care Boards from the HSIB report include:

•  Integrated Care Boards to work with acute hospitals to share good practice and assure they meet the national learning disability improvement standards.

• Integrated Care Boards to develop and use communities of practice (‘networks’) for acute learning disability staff across the integrated care system area, with the aim of providing peer support and sharing learning to support service improvement.

To read the full HBIS report click here

To find out more about the NHS England Learning Disability Improvement Standards Project click here

New faces in the NHS Benchmarking Network Steering Group!

We are pleased to welcome three newly elected representative’s to the NHS Benchmarking Network’s Steering Group! 

Welcome!
Melanie Duffy, Director of Community and Primary Care from Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS FT.
Mel has a fantastic background in information, operations, transformation and strategy, consistently using data to identify improvement opportunities for optimal service effectiveness and value.

Jess Lievesley, Executive Director of Strategy, Transformation and Organisational Effectiveness from Barnet, Enfield and Haringey NHS Trust and Camden and Islington NHS FT.
Jess has extensive board level experience within Mental Health Services in strategic and operational roles, with responsibilities for transformation, quality improvement, performance improvement and population health improvement.

Philip Murray, Director of Finance and Performance/Deputy CEO South West London & St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust. 
Philip is a qualified accountant responsible for performance and has experience working within commissioning, acute, mental health and teaching hospitals

Melanie Duffy will be representing the Community Sector and Philip and Jess will be representing the Mental Health Sector.

Steering Group representatives are elected through a formal election process and member votes. 

What is the Steering Group?
The Steering Group, oversee and govern the Network activities and is made up of 4 representatives from each Sector drawn from its membership and one representative from our host organisation East London NHS Foundation Trust. 

The Steering Group, use their experience, skills and knowledge of their specific sector to assist in making strategic decisions, governance of the Network, representing the interests of member organisation and agreeing and overseeing the Core Work Programme.

To find out who else represents the Network’s Steering group please see our website https://www.nhsbenchmarking.nhs.uk/steering-group

Thank you!
We would like to express thanks to the Steering Group members who have recently resigned, for their support, contribution and participation in the Network as Steering Group members over their tenure.

Mark Gerrard, Chief Data Officer for Tameside and Glossop Integrated NHS Foundation Trust.  

Elizabeth Calder, Executive Director of Performance & Strategic Development, for Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust

Jason Hollidge, Chief Finance Officer, for Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.