Announcement of methodological changes to the CCG Outcomes Indicator Set (CCG OIS) emergency readmissions indicator

The emergency readmission indicators were last published in March 2020 using methodologies aligned across CCG OIS, NHS Outcomes Framework (NHSOF), and Compendium indicators.

All of the indicators use Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data as their primary data source and it is this data source that is undergoing a change in how it is derived, most significantly, in terms of how unique patients are identified.  Details of the nature of the changes and their impacts are available. 

Its purpose is to describe how these changes will impact the results of these indicators from the next CCG OIS publication onwards.  (Publications for Compendium and NHSOF will also be impacted by this revised methodology.)

From the March 2022 publication onwards, the methodology used within the CCG OIS emergency readmissions indicator will include the changes described below. 

Full details of the updated methodology are available in the indicator specification document which is available to download from the CCGOIS dataset. 

The most significant change is that the unique identifier used to identify individuals has been updated to use the Master Person Service (MPS) Person_ID instead of the HES ID, which was previously used. The Person_ID is derived using a new standard person identifier algorithm that utilises insight from the MPS that confirms the individual’s identity using Patient Demographics Service (PDS) data on Spine.

As identifying people across hospital admissions and discharge activity is a key feature of these emergency readmission indicators this is where the most impact is expected to be seen.

The impact of this change is very small. The following analysis is based on data for discharges in the period April 2013 to March 2019 for national and CCG breakdowns. Please note that the impact analysis is based on a comparison using the “classic” HES data with one run using HESID and the other run using the new Person_ID.

• At a national level, the numerators show increases of up to 265 and decreases of 37. The denominators all decrease, with the minimum decrease being 69 and a maximum increase of 1,229.  On average, the indicator value increases, by 0.007 or 0.05% of its value from 12.868 to 12.875.
• At CCG level, the numerators show increases of up to 133 and decreases of 34. The denominators show increases of up to 44 and decreases of 573.  The indicator values range from increases of up to 0.43 and decreases down by 0.12. On average, the indicator values increase by 0.002 from 13.415 using HESID and 13.417 using the MPS Person ID.

The first publication to be affected by this change will be the March 2022 release, which covers discharges in the period April 2013 to March 2020.

Questions and feedback on the publication are welcomed and should be sent to [email protected] or alternatively call 0300 303 5678.