How did we develop the Indicators for Quality Improvement?

It has been important to have input from clinicians throughout the development process. In summer 2008, the NHS Medical and Nursing Directors asked the NHS to say what indicators they used locally to support quality improvement. These were gathered together along with others from national audits and indicator sets and from the National Clinical Directors and policy teams.

In autumn 2008 we then asked for the views of clinicians and NHS professionals through The NHS Information Centre's Clinical Quality Indicators Survey. This survey was run in partnership with the Department of Health and supported by five Royal Colleges and the Cardiovascular Society. The DH Quality Team then assembled the initial Indicators for Quality Improvement from:

  • those that were very highly endorsed in the NHS IC Survey and where the detailed design methodology was available
  • those suggested by the SHAs in their January reports for use both locally and to measure progress towards their visions
  • commonly used and less acute-focussed indicator sets such as the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) and Vital Signs

How are we developing it now?

We are continually updating, improving and expanding the indicators. Both the presentation and the actual indicators are expected to develop incrementally in conjunction with users and stakeholders.

The indicators have been populated with the most recent data, which you can download. For some indicators the data is not yet available, but will be added in future releases.

We expect to add further indicators using the assurance processes described above. These indicators are expected to come from across the NHS, professional bodies and the quality observatories. There are further indicators that were very highly endorsed in the NHS IC survey but require further design work. Read about what is happening on indicators in particular areas. Metadata (details about the indicator) have been included to show the quality of the indicator based on both the underlying data and the design.

What is metadata?

Information describing characteristics of the data. The Indicators for Quality Improvement have a breakdown of data for each indicator including definition, source and methodology.