Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
General
- What data is required for the audit?
- What is the clinical involvement in the audit?
- When is the data collection period for the current year?
- When is the annual report produced?
- Can I enter more than one primary diagnosis for the same patient?
- DAHNO is taking a long time to respond - is there anything I can do?
Web DAHNO
- I am new to the project, how do I get access to web DAHNO?
- How secure is my data when submitting via the web?
- Will the data submitted in previous years be lost if I switch to web DAHNO?
- What is the web site to access DAHNO?
Data Completion and Submission
- How do I view my data?
- Why are the patients I have entered not in the audit?
- How do we submit data if the patient moves across more than one organisation for care?
- If a patient moves across a number of organisations for care, who gets credited with the submission of data?
- How can I submit data?
- My CSV file keeps failing, what can I do?
- What is the last day of submission?
- I can't see the import I did today, why not?
- Do I need to submit 17 files per import?
- Can I test my import data?
- If I submit for one hospital can I submit for another?
- If I do submit for one hospital how do I view/add to the second hospital's data?
- What does a blue box with red spot mean? I have filled in all the mandatory items.
- How can I tell if my import has worked?
- What does a white box with a red spot mean?
- I have completed all the fields in a screen where it is showing a blue box with red spot, when will the red spot disappear?
General
The data items required for the audit are listed in the dataset, with more descriptive information in the data manual, which is available on the User information page.
The project team has two clinical leads, a consultant ENT surgeon and a consultant Maxillofacial surgeon, who are advised by the Head and Neck Clinical Reference Group (HNCRG). The HNCRG has representatives from all the professional groups who are involved in the care and management of patients with head and neck cancer.
Data for the 7th Annual Report will be of patients diagnosed between 1 November 2010 and 31 October 2011. The deadline for submissions is 18 November 2011.
The 7th National Head and Neck Cancer Audit annual report will be available on-line May / June 2012
No, at present the system can only hold one primary diagnosis for the same patient. ie you cannot upload more than 1record in carespell.csv for the same NHS number
Web DAHNO
You will need to register to access web DAHNO. In order to do this you must complete a Data User Certificate and return it. You will then be issued with a username and password. Download the Data User Certificate.
DAHNO uses SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption to protect the data whilst in transit, while the database itself is also protected by IBM Lotus Domino security.
No, it is only the front (user) end that is changing. The database that holds all the data, since the audit started, remains the same. We will be using all the data in the audit to analyse longer term trends and outcomes.
For an N3 (NHS) connection: ncasp1.ic.nhs.uk or from anywhere: www.ncasp.org.uk
Data Completion & Submission
Data can be viewed by searching for NHS numbers. There are a number of different 'views' which allow users to drill down to various parts of the patient pathway.
There are a number of reasons why this might happen:
- if the date of diagnosis for the patient is out of the specified audit timeframe November 1st 2010 to October 31st 2011
- if the tumour type is not squamous cell carcinoma
- if the tumour site is out of the audit range oral cavity, larynx, nasopharynx, hypopharynx, oropharynx or major salivary glands
- if your patient moves across more than one organisation for care, they might be credited to another organisation (see below).
It is recommended that you discuss with colleagues in all organisations, across the patient pathway, and agree who is collecting which data items. You may find our Data Submissions Protocol useful for doing this.
- If a patient moves across a number of organisations for care, who gets credited with the submission of data?
A patient can only be credited to one organisation; otherwise there would be duplicate copies of patients in the database, which would give erroneous results when analysis is being undertaken. At present, the diagnosing trust (submitting organisation) is the organisation credited with the patient.
Note, the first diagnosis summary entered into DAHNO cannot be overwritten - this will be used to count patients in the report.
Data can be submitted either manually, through direct data entry onto DAHNO, or electronically, via CSV file.
Firstly, check the CSV file specification to ensure that you have it set up correctly and that the file format matches the manual. If you continue to have problems, please contact the helpdesk:
- Telephone: 0845 300 6016 (option 2)
- E-mail: helpdesk@ncasp.org.uk
The last day to enter data is 18 November 2011
An agent runs over night on the data, so you will not be able to see anything until the following morning
No but you must have a patient file, care spell, diagnostic summary & a care plan if you have any treatment data entered (surgery, chemotherapy, brachytherapy).
Yes in the training DAHNO system – use the same log on & pass word. The test DAHNO is the same as the live system. Remember once you are happy with your upload you need to then upload to the live system.
Yes
A user can only have a log on and password for one hospital. You can view / add to an existing record (from another hospital) if you know the NHS number of that patient.
The mandatory items are required for the system to work correctly. The other items are required for the audit and the red dot means that you have not filled in all the audit items, which will result in a lower data quality.
The next day (an agent runs overnight so data cannot be seen until the next day) check your import log which can be found in the views down the left hand side of the DAHNO homepage
It means that the data for that screen should be available (based on other screens that have been completed, eg. if treatment data has been entered it should be possible to complete the care plan)
- I have completed all the fields in a screen where it is showing a blue box with red spot, when will the red spot disappear?
The overnight agent needs to run on the data being entered, so the red dot should disappear the next day, not the same day the data has been entered.