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Standardised data collection has a key role to play in modern healthcare. Use the examples featured on this page to find out more about it.

What is standardised data collection?

Data is collected and recorded about the patient by individual practitioners as part of the patient assessment and intervention record; information is then drawn from the patient record to inform performance management, financial management, research, audit, or clinical effectiveness.

Data collected is anonymised in the data set to protect the identity of individual patients. Data collected can cover aspects of: patient demographics; service delivery; process of care and referral pathways; clinical findings; outcomes of care; costs of care; profile of care provider; content of care; and factors influencing care.

Why is standardised data collection important?

The current health and social care agenda focuses on issues of quality relating to the delivery of innovative, effective and efficient services that meet real health needs.

In 2008, Framing the contribution of allied health professionals - delivering high quality healthcare was published by the Department of Health which set out a commitment to mandate the collection of data on referral to treatment times (RTT) for AHP services. Eleven pilot sites in NHS England have been working with the Department to develop the following guidance: Allied Health Professional (AHP) Referral to Treatment (RTT) guide.

Referral to Treatment guide

The guide supports NHS AHP services to measure the time that patients wait to access patient NHS AHP services, which includes mental health and learning disabilities. It sets out the definitions for clock starts and clock stops for NHS AHP services to enable consistent collection of NHS funded AHP RTT data. This will enable the measurement of waiting times for NHS AHP services and support service improvement to reduce waiting times and improve patient access to NHS AHP services.

This includes the collection of RTT data about out-patient therapy services delivered in a hospital setting, where the treatment is not part of a medical consultant led national 18-week RTT pathway, and the collection of RTT data about out-patient therapy services delivered in a community setting, where the treatment is not part of a medical consultant led national 18-week RTT pathway.

Although the collection of this data is on a voluntary basis at present (it becomes mandatory from April 2011) so it would be wise for managers to start looking at its implementation, as it could take some time to ensure processes are in place to become fully compliant by April 2011.

It is therefore critical that physiotherapy services consider what information they need to make the case for their service, and set about collecting the relevant data to inform those needs.

Standardised data collection examples

AHP Services Information Management Handbook

The Allied Health Professionals Service Improvement programme has devised an AHP Services Information Management Handbook in consultation with clinicians, educators and researchers (including CSP members).

The handbook is an interactive 12-step guide to help AHPs improve their data collection, identify areas for improvement, and assess progress from changes made. Topics covered include: referral management; managing and monitoring patient contacts; analysing and reporting; and a suggested AHP dataset.

The AHP dataset mapping tool helps you assess your data/information needs and prompts you on how to plug the gaps so you have all the required information to promote your service.

The handbook is available from the 18-weeks website: www.18weeks.nhs.uk

Musculoskeletal physiotherapy services

This project, carried out between 1994-1996 by Professor Ann Moore (University of Brighton) and a senior manager Carol Groom from the then Mid-Kent Healthcare Trust, involved the outpatient physiotherapy departments at Mid-Kent Healthcare Trust. A pilot standardised data collection tool for musculoskeletal physiotherapy services was established.

The tool was then used to collect data for a period of one year regarding the clinical activities of all physiotherapists working in outpatient physiotherapy departments within the Mid-Kent Healthcare Trust. The tool facilitated the collection of patients' profiling data, physical examination findings, history and progression of the complaint, waiting times for treatment, treatment details, service related data, the outcome of the therapy from the clinician's and patient's joint perspective, factors influencing outcome and also provided a mechanism to audit standards of practice.

The findings of the project were collated in a report (which includes a copy of the outcome measurement tool): Moore A. The development of the Mid Kent and Brighton outcome measurement tool for physiotherapy outpatient services. Brighton: University of Brighton; 1996. Available to borrow from the CSP Library & Information Service.

Cervical spine pain and dysfunction

The South Thames Clinical Audit and Research Group based at the University of Brighton (which included academics and researchers from the University of Brighton together with clinicians from sixteen trusts in the South of England) worked together to refine the existing musculoskeletal physiotherapy service tool (see above) to meet the needs of a more specialised musculoskeletal physiotherapy audience in relation to the collection of data about cervical spine pain and dysfunction.

The standardised data collection form and an explanation of the project and its results are available within the following report: Moore A. An audit of the outcome of physiotherapy intervention for outpatients with cervical spine pain and dysfunction. Eastbourne : South Thames Clinical Audit Programme; 1999.

Available to borrow from the CSP Library & Information Service.

Low Back Pain

1. NHS Quality Improvement Scotland has embarked on a project looking at Low Back Pain (LBP). The project aims to:
   • obtain a baseline measurement of the present physiotherapy management of LBP within NHS Scotland;
   • develop action plans to address any issues raised from the 1st audit cycle and re-evaluate their impact;
   • produce a minimum standard of competency for the physiotherapy management of LBP throughout NHS Scotland, and contribute to the strategic direction of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland and the wider health care agenda.
   The project team have produced the following resources to aid the data collection:
   • Audit form
   • A dataset information guide which explains the evidence base to the questions in the audit form
   • Patient consent form
   • General overview

2. The South Thames Clinical Audit and Research Group based at the University of Brighton (which included academics and researchers from the University of Brighton together with clinicians from sixteen trusts in the South of England) worked together in 1997/98 to refine the existing musculoskeletal physiotherapy service tool (see above) in relation to the collection of audit data about low back pain patients.

   The standard data collection form and a report of its use is available: Moore A. An audit of the outcome of physiotherapy intervention for outpatients with back pain against set clinical standards. Eastbourne : South Thames Clinical Audit Programme; n.d. Available to borrow from the CSP Library & Information Service.

Whiplash and Whiplash Associated Disorders

The Clinical Research Centre for Health Professions at the University of Brighton in conjunction with the South Thames Musculoskeletal Research and Audit group produced a standardised data collection tool for use with patients suffering from whiplash. The Trusts within the research and audit group carried out baseline data collection with all presenting whiplash patients for a year; the findings allowed the Trusts to compare their activities with neighbouring Trusts, to identify areas of concern and interest, strengths and weaknesses, and to follow up on any clinical governance or quality improvement issues.

The standardised data collection form and an explanation of the project and its results are available within the following report: Moore A, Bryant E, Barfield J, Burge J, Canby G, Herriott M et al. Whiplash associated disorder: a one year standardised data collection project. Brighton: University of Brighton; 2006.

Available to borrow from the CSP Library & Information Service.

National Hydrotherapy DATa collection (HyDAT) Project

The HyDAT project team is a collaboration of clinicians, researchers and educators and includes a private practitioner. Four HyDAT team members are also executive committee members of the Aquatic Therapy Association of Chartered Physiotherapists (ATACP).

The HyDAT team has collected and analysed 1762 data sets from 74 contributing aquatic physiotherapy units from across the UK. Data sets include:

• demographic patient information
• details of aquatic physiotherapy intervention
• patient outcome.

 

This project was developed from and based on previous standardised data collection development work carried out by the South Thames Clinical Audit and Research Group.

The findings will be available in the full project report that is expected to be published later in 2009. They include details such as:

• 74% of the aquatic physiotherapy patients had long-term conditions
• 14% (the biggest single group) had back pain
• 62% of the sample had co-existing mobility problems
• 77% of patients achieved their physiotherapy goals - at least partially.

The HyDAT findings have important implications for ATACP as a clinical interest group e.g. in:

• demonstrating the use and outcome of aquatic physiotherapy for managers and commissioners
• developing an ATACP research policy
• establishing aquatic physiotherapy education at post-graduate level
• focusing future research including MSc and PhD projects
• providing quality papers for publication in the ATACP journal Aqualines
• involving many ATACP members in data collection activity.

Self referral to physiotherapy dataset

The work carried out in NHS Scotland on self referral to physiotherapy included the specification of a national self referral dataset. For more information on this project see the following:

• data collection sheet
• accompanying data collection guidance
• general information about the project
• For further information about self referral and the dataset see: Holdsworth H, Webster, V. Patient self referral: a guide for therapists. Oxford: Radcliffe Publishing; 2006. Available to borrow from the CSP Library & Information Service.

In 2009 the CSP developed a set of self referral implementation tools, one component being a data collection tool for self referral. The data collection tool is based on the experiences of those physiotherapists with expertise in data collection and the development of datasets. It includes a section on recommended baseline data, and what to collect if this data does not exist in the service. Based on the ‘vital signs’ recommended in the World Class Commissioning guidance, there is a standard data collection proforma for self referral. 

• Self referral - implementation tools (PDF 260kb).

Other useful resources

• NHS Information Centre
• Moore A, Jull G. Standardized clinical data collection and agreed outcome measurement. Manual Therapy. 2009; 14(3):241-242.

• National Clinical Dataset Development Programme (Scotland) This programme formulates clinical data standards to support the recording of clinical care in a consistent manner: http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/5952.html 

Other standardised data collection tools

If you are aware of other examples used within the profession that you feel should be promoted on this page, please email the details to: lis@csp.org.uk

CSP Library & Information Service

The CSP Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) contains records of books, reports and other grey literature, CSP publications and theses held in the Learning Resource Centre: see csplis.csp.org.uk

Links on this page last checked on 1 May 2009.