Admissions data incorporating day cases
Posted in News
Our antimicrobial colleagues have been on the ball and noted that there was variance in the PHE Fingertips data and Define reports for antimicrobials use. This issue came about due to the source of the admission denominator used.
PHE have used the HES (Health Episodes Statistics) dataset which calculates the number of admissions as discharges of patients including elective, non-elective and day case. The admission is counted in the month and year when discharge takes place. Data is usually available eight months in arrears.
Rx-info has used the publicly available Monthly Activity Return (MAR) dataset which counts admission as the First Finished Consultant Episode (FFCE) in the month and year in which the admission takes place. Data is submitted by Trusts and is available within six weeks of the end of the relevant month.
Rx-info now includes day cases into the admissions data, following clarification at the last English Surveillance Programme for Antimicrobial Utilisation and Resistance (ESPAUR) meeting. All antimicrobial reports use the 1,000 admissions (including day case) denominator now, and will closely match the PHE data. All the scatter plots are also updated to use this denominator.
The inclusion of day case admissions will affect corresponding values seen in any previously printed antimicrobials-per-admission report, as before January 2017 the denominator included only elective and non-elective patients. All retrospective data now uses the day case inclusive denominator.
There is an antimicrobial consumption report in the CQUIN node which can be used to confirm antimicrobial usage used in the PHE submission.
