Publication, Part of [MI] National Obesity Audit
Bariatric surgical procedures, 2021/22 (final) and Quarter 1, Quarter 2 2022/23 (provisional) – National Obesity Audit [Management Information]
Other reports and statistics
Change to publication csv and dashboard
An issue was identified with the derivations for Length of Stay for the average counts at Regional level (Measure 8.3). This has now been corrected in the CSV file and dashboard.
12 April 2023 00:00 AM
Data Quality Statement
Purpose
This data quality statement aims to provide users with an evidence based assessment of quality of the statistical output included in this publication.
It reports against those of the nine European Statistical System (ESS) quality dimensions and principles appropriate to this output. The original quality dimensions are: relevance, accuracy and reliability, timeliness and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, and coherence and comparability; these are set out in Eurostat Statistical Law. However more recent quality guidance from Eurostat includes some additional quality principles on: output quality trade-offs, user needs and perceptions, performance cost and respondent burden, and confidentiality, transparency and security.
In doing so, this meets NHS England's obligation to comply with the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) code of practice for statistics and the following principles in particular:
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Trustworthiness pillar, principle 6 (Data governance) which states “Organisations should look after people’s information securely and manage data in ways that are consistent with relevant legislation and serve the public good.”
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Quality pillar, principle 3 (Assured Quality) which states “Producers of statistics and data should explain clearly how they assure themselves that statistics and data are accurate, reliable, coherent and timely.”
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Value pillar, principle 1 (Relevance to Users) which states “Users of statistics and data should be at the centre of statistical production; their needs should be understood, their views sought and acted upon, and their use of statistics supported.”
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Value pillar, principle 2 (Accessibility) which states “Statistics and data should be equally available to all, not given to some people before others. They should be published at a sufficient level of detail and remain publicly available.”
Relevance
This dimension covers the degree to which the statistical product meets user needs in both coverage and content.
This publication is considered to be of particular interest to NHS and independent sector providers in England and to English NHS commissioning organisations. However, data and findings are likely also to be of interest to a much broader base of users.
Accuracy and reliability
This dimension covers, with respect to the statistics, their proximity between an estimate and the unknown true value.
Due to a cumulative shortfall in records for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (RXP) HES data submission, data for Quarter 1 22-23 for RXP is no longer present in the output data file.
HES 2022-23 Month 7 data has been used for this release.
Sub-Integrated Care Boards
Organisations previously reported as Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) are now shown as Sub-Integrated Care Boards (ICBs).
Integrated Care Board boundaries have been updated since the last release of this publication. The sub-ICB 02Q (formerly NHS Bassetlaw CCG) was previously part of NHS South Yorkshire ICB (QF7) and is now part of NHS Nottingham & Nottinghamshire ICB (QT1). Some measures will now show less activity under QF7/Y63 (North East and Yorkshire Commissioning Region) and more activity under QT1/Y60 (Midlands Commissioning Region).
Procedures from Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data
The accuracy of HES data is the responsibility of the NHS providers who submit the data to Secondary Uses Service (SUS).
Further general information on HES data quality, including specific known issues can be found here:
The data presented in this report are for inpatients only. We have used primary diagnosis of obesity (ICD10 code E66), to limit the bariatric procedures to those related to obesity but there is a small possibility that people undergoing bariatric surgical procedures for cancer may be counted.
The revision procedure count will not include patients;
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who had their first bariatric surgical procedure as a non-NHS patient in the private sector, or
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who had their first bariatric surgical procedure as an NHS patient earlier than 10 years prior to the reporting period year, or
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who had their first bariatric surgical procedure during the same reporting period year and both surgeries were coded as primary surgeries using one of the 13 primary procedure codes
Outpatient data are not included in these figures due to the primary diagnosis code being poorly populated, and there being no certainty that any procedures are for obesity diagnoses. Outpatient appointments usually cover a short consultation – this may simply be a test or a scan.
In HES, people are identified using the Master Person Service (MPS) person identifier (Person ID). This is a unique identifier for each individual patient, generated via the MPS. HES is a well curated data asset, and most records (over the time period used in the NOA analysis) have NHS number and date of birth (DOB) populated. This means that Person ID matching is mostly based on the most robust tracing step in MPS. Further information on MPS is available here: https://digital.nhs.uk/services/master-person-service
Children's bariatric surgery
The methodology used to derive these figures was designed with adults in mind. We aim to refine this methodology further and would welcome feedback on whether these figures are likely representative of the true picture for people aged 0-18 years.
Weight Management Services (WMS) data from the Community Services data
The Community Services Dataset v1.6 went live for local data collection on 1 January 2023, and allows us to identify specific activity in relation to Weight Management Services (WMS). We plan to start publishing information from this in later releases. We would like to acknowledge and thank the following organisations who have already started submitting WMS data to CSDS (as at 27 February 2023):
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council
City Health Care Partnership CIC
Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust
Derbyshire County Council
Everyone Health Ltd (various locations)
Gateway Primary Care
Gloucestershire Hospitals Nhs Foundation Trust
Herefordshire Council
Homerton Healthcare Nhs Foundation Trust
ICE Creates
Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Livewell Southwest CIC
Medway Council
Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust
MoreLife (various locations)
North Bristol NHS Trust
North Lincolnshire Council
Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust (Healthy Minds)
Slimming World (various locations)
Solutions 4 Health (various locations)
Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust
South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
Watford Fcs Community Sports And Education Trust
Wiltshire Council
Submissions to CSDS are being monitored with information available via our published submission tracker: Community Services Data Set Submission Tracker
Timeliness and punctuality
Timeliness refers to the time gap between publication and the reference period. Punctuality refers to the gap between planned and actual publication dates.
This is the third release of data to form part of NOA which includes updates to the quarterly time series for patients who had a primary bariatric surgical procedure in Q1 or Q2 in 2022/23. Subsequent releases are planned quarterly so the most up-to-date information is made available, as early as possible.
Accessibility and clarity
Accessibility is the ease with which users are able to access the data, also reflecting the format in which the data are available and the availability of supporting information. Clarity refers to the quality and sufficiency of the metadata, illustrations and accompanying advice.
All reports are accessible via the website. Data tables are provided in the dashboard and/or as a csv file, as part of the government’s requirement to make public data public. An accompanying metadata file is provided in MS Excel format which provides a broad definition of each measure, including the data items used.
Coherence and comparability
Coherence is the degree to which data which have been derived from different sources or methods but refer to the same topic are similar. Comparability is the degree to which data can be compared over time and domain.
NBSR data
BOMSS also collect and publish annual data on bariatric surgery through the National Bariatric Surgery Registry (NBSR) which allows surgeons to voluntarily submit data. The key objective of the registry is to accumulate sufficient data to allow the publication of a comprehensive report on outcomes following bariatric surgery. The latest NBSR report was published in 2020 at https://www.e-dendrite.com/NBSR2020
There are some differences in the data collected by NBSR and HES. The data is collected for different primary purposes with NBSR collecting much broader data, different coding/terms are used for procedures, NBSR includes all adult NHS and private procedures, and not all hospitals submit complete data to NBSR. However, the data are relatively coherent, with large provider differences highlighted on the NBSR website. Full details of NBSR and their reports are on the Bariatric Surgeon Reporting Website (e-dendrite.com)
NHS England continue to work together with BOMSS to ensure both NBSR and HES provide reliable data which support improvements in quality of care.
Data in the Statistics on Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet publication
NHS England (previously NHS Digital) has historically published data on admissions and number of finished consultant episodes for bariatric surgical procedures in the National Statistics on Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet (SOPAD) which uses a different methodology, as explained in their Technical notes. SOPAD counts the number of procedures and admissions for bariatric surgery, groups reporting on primary and revision procedures, excludes gastric balloon procedures and uses a wider range of different procedure codes. Therefore the SOPAD figures are higher than the counts of people provided in this release. SOPAD have recently been through a consultation, accessible here: Statistics on Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet which didn’t include a revised methodology for these estimates. Therefore, as this dashboard and statistics develop, we will consider in liaison with stakeholders and users, whether these statistics continue to be published separately from SOPAD or realign back into SOPAD with the revised methodology, as part of a new combined compendia publication following the consultation.
Obesity related hospital admissions
Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage, and changes in NHS practice.
Improved use of secondary procedure codes
There is continuing evidence that recording of secondary procedure codes is improving over time, which result in an increase in the number of people identified as having a bariatric procedure.
Trade offs between output quality components
This dimension describes the extent to which different aspects of quality are balanced against each other.
New analyses by NHS England consist of HES statistics. HES data quality information, including details of trade-offs, is available here:
Assessment of user needs and perceptions
This dimension covers the processes for finding out about users and uses and their views on the statistical products.
This is the third release of data to form part of NOA.
NHS England is keen to gain a better understanding of the users of this publication and of their needs; feedback is welcome and may be sent to [email protected] (please include ‘NOA’ in the subject line).
You may feedback your comments on this using our customer survey https://forms.office.com/r/i9WyhAdYRn.
Confidentiality, transparency and security
The procedures and policy used to ensure sound confidentiality, security and transparent practices.
All publications are subject to a standard NHS England risk assessment prior to issue. Disclosure control is implemented where deemed necessary.
The code of practice for statistics is adhered to from collecting the data to publishing.
Details of relevant procedures and policy information can be found below:
NHS Digital Statistical Governance Policy
NHS Digital Freedom of Information Process
NHS Digital Statement of Compliance with Pre-Release Order
Last edited: 28 January 2025 2:40 pm