Using the National Diabetes Audit (NDA) specialist services specification

The spreadsheet provides the following information so that you are able to create the correct .csv files for bulk upload onto the Clinical Audit Platform (CAP):

• file names required for each .csv file
• headings and format for each .csv file
• sample data to indicate how the data should look
• validation rules and options for each data item within the .csv files

When you have checked your data and are ready to submit, please make sure you have saved the individual .csv files separately and with the correct file name. You can then login to CAP and submit your data via the File Submission Dashboard, where you can upload your .csv files.

We recommend that you keep a copy of this file for your records in case we need to contact you about your submission.

You can achieve partial participation in the National Diabetes Audit (NDA) by submitting a list of the NHS numbers and Dates of Birth for the diabetes patients that are under your care. This can be extracted from your Patient Administration System.

To do this, you can complete the first two data items in the Patient and care process section using the patient_.csv format. Submissions will only be accepted via the Clinical Audit Platform, which requires both identifiers (NHS number and date of birth) to link to the relevant primary care record.

You can download the NDA specialist services specification from the NDA webpage. 

Upon opening the excel spreadsheet there are eight worksheets.

Cover

Overview of how to use the specification. Please read in conjunction with this guidance.

Bulk upload

This sheet contains information on the csv file names and provides sample data for each file.

Patient and care process

This provides all the data items required in the patient_.csv file, including whether a field is mandatory (M) or optional (O) and what will be accepted as valid data. Please note that the codes and descriptions are included for clarity, but only codes are required for bulk upload. For example, only ‘01’ is required for diabetes type rather than ’01 Type 1’.

HBA1C

This provides all the data items required in the HBA1c_.csv file, including whether a field is mandatory (M) or optional (O) and what will be accepted as valid data. Please include all of the HBA1c readings that have been recorded for all of the patients that appear in the patient_.csv file. Each person may have multiple rows depending on the number of readings recorded.

Blood pressure

This provides all the data items required in the BloodPressure_.csv file, including whether a field is mandatory (M) or optional (O) and what will be accepted as valid data. Please include all of the blood pressure readings that have been recorded for all of the patients that appear in the patient_.csv file. Each person may have multiple rows depending on the number of readings recorded.

BMI

This provides all the data items required in the BMI_.csv file, including whether a field is mandatory (M) or optional (O) and what will be accepted as valid data. Please include all of the BMI readings that have been recorded for all of the patients that appear in the patient_.csv file. Each person may have multiple rows depending on the number of readings recorded.

Cholesterol

This provides all the data items required in the Cholesterol_.csv file, including whether a field is mandatory (M) or optional (O) and what will be accepted as valid data. Please include all of the cholesterol readings that have been recorded for all of the patients that appear in the patient_.csv file. Each person may have multiple rows depending on the number of readings recorded.

Clarke and Gold

This provides all the data items required in the ClarkeandGold_.csv file, including whether a field is mandatory (M) or optional (O) and what will be accepted as valid data. Please include all of the Clarke and Gold readings that have been recorded for all of the patients that appear in the patient_.csv file. Note  - only Clarke OR Gold score can be entered on single row; a person may have multiple rows depending on the number of scores recorded.

File structure

The data in each record is split into fields by using a comma separator (“,”). Multiple values for one field need to be separated by a semi-colon in the file (not a comma). The standard is that commas separate the individual fields and semi-colons separate multiple values within a single field (where appropriate).

The last line entry should not have a comma afterwards. File names need to be formatted as:

• Patient_.csv
• HBA1c_.csv
• BMI_.csv
• Cholesterol_.csv
• BloodPressure_.csv
• ClarkeandGold_.csv

You can enter your own meaningful file name after the underscore, for example patient_Trust_Date.csv.

We recommend that you work with colleagues from your specialist diabetes care service, insulin pump clinic, and your clinical audit department to complete the specification. Your specialist service diabetes team will have the information for care processes and treatment targets for all diabetes patients. The insulin pump team will be able to complete the relevant insulin pump fields. The clinical audit department will have prior knowledge of submitting audit data and may be able to help you with extracting your data and submissions.

You can view if you participated in the NDA in previous years by accessing the publications on the NDA webpage or the NDA dashboards.