Conclusion

This section summarises the information presented in the document.

It has been shown that differences do exist between the provisional and performance window, with the changes between 0% and 5% at national level for most metrics. There are specific areas where the differences are larger, for example with restraints where a different approach is required to ensure that good quality data is used for reporting.

There also exists some differences between provider groups. Analysis shows that the differences between submissions provided by NHS trusts to be consistent across the two submission windows. Data for other organisation types shows larger percentage changes but this should be considered against the volumes of data that these groups submit to the dataset.

Overall, these changes should be seen as a small trade off in quality against a larger benefit of more timely data for the system. Where issues do persist, for example with restraints, plans have been put in place to ensure that reporting remains consistent, however the aim is that these measures will also transition over time. It would also be expected that data quality would continue to improve over time as providers begin to alter their submission behaviours as a result of the change.