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LAPH HES via NHS England’s Secure Environment

Royal Borough of Greenwich · Local Authority

In term In term in the September 2026 edition: the latest version runs to 9 April 2027.

Reference
DARS-NIC-10929-K8H5K
Current version
v7.2
Term of current version
12 April 2024 to 9 April 2027
Start date
Before 1 April 2019
Data controller
Sole Data Controller
Commercial purposes
No
Sublicensing
No
Files released to date
0

Why the data was released

Objective for processing

The Health Episode Statistics (HES) Data accessed through the NHS England’s Secure Environment will be used by the Local Authority in fulfilment of its public health function, specifically to support and improve:

1. the local responsiveness, targeting and value for money of commissioned public health services;

2. the statutory ‘core offer’ public health advice and support provided to local NHS commissioners;

3. the local specificity and relevance of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and Health and Wellbeing Strategies produced in collaboration with NHS and voluntary sector partners on the Health and Wellbeing Board;

4. the local focus, responsiveness and timeliness of health impact assessments; and, among other benefits

5. the capability of the local public health intelligence service to undertake comparative longitudinal analyses of patterns of and variations in:

a) the incidence and prevalence of disease and risks to public health;

b) demand for and access to treatment and preventative care services;

c) variations in health outcomes between groups in the population;

d) the level of integration between local health and care services; and

e) the local associations between causal risk factors and health status and outcomes.

The main statutory duties and wider public health responsibilities supporting these processing objectives are as follows:

1. Statutory public health duties that the data will be used to support

a) Duty to improve public health: Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the Local Authority under Section 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to take appropriate steps to improve the health of the population, for example by providing information and advice, services and facilities, and incentives and assistance to encourage and enable people to lead healthier lives;

b) Duty to support Health and Wellbeing Boards: Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the Local Authority and the Integrated Care Board (ICB)-led Health and Wellbeing Board under Section 194 of the 2012 Act to improve health and wellbeing, reduce health inequalities, and promote the integration of health and care services; the data will also be used to support the statutory duty of Health and Wellbeing Boards under Section 206 of the 2012 Act to undertake Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments;

c) Duty to produce Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs) and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies (JHWBs): Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the Local Authority under Sections 192 and 193 of the 2012 Act to consult on and publish JSNAs and JHWSs that assess the current and future health and wellbeing needs of the local population;

d) Duty to commission specific public health services: Analyses of the data will be used to support the Local Authority to discharge its duty under the Local Authorities Regulations 2013 to plan and provide NHS Health Check assessments, the National Child Measurement Programme, and open access sexual health services;

e) Duty to provide public health advice to NHS commissioners: Analyses of the data will be used by Local Authorities to discharge its duty under the 2013 Regulations to provide a public health advice service to NHS commissioners;

f) Duty to publish an annual public health report: Analyses of the data will be used by Directors of Public Health to support their duty to prepare and publish an annual report on the health of the local population under Section 31 the 2012 Act;

g) Public Health responses on behalf of the Local Authority to licensing applications and other statutory Local Authority functions requiring public health input: Analyses of the data will be used by the Director of Public Health to support their duty under Part 3 of the National Health Services Act 2006 (as amended by Section 30 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012) to provide the Local Authority’s public health response (as the responsible authority under the Licensing Act 2003, as amended by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 Schedule 5 – Part 1) to licensing applications.

2. Wider public health responsibilities supported by analysis of the data

a) Health impact assessments and equity audits: Analyses of the data will be used to assess the potential impacts on health and the wider social economic and environmental determinants of health of Local Authority strategic plans, policies and services;

b) Local health profiles: Analyses of the data will be used to support the production of locally-commissioned health profiles to improve understanding of the health priorities of local areas and guide strategic commissioning plans by focusing, for example, on:

i. bespoke local geographies (based on the non-standard aggregation of LSOAs);

ii. specific demographic, geographic, ethnic and socio-economic groups in the population;

iii. inequalities in health status, access to treatment and treatment outcomes;

c) Surveillance of trends in health status and health outcomes: Analyses of the data will be used for the longitudinal monitoring of trends in the incidence, prevalence, treatment and outcomes for a wide range of diseases and other risks to public health;

d) Responsive and timely local health intelligence service: Analyses of the data will be used to respond to ad hoc internal and external requests for information and intelligence on the health status and outcomes of the local population generated and received by the Director of Public Health and their team.

These lists of the statutory duties and wider public health responsibilities of the Local Authority are not exhaustive but set the broad parameters for how the data will be used by the Local Authority to help improve and protect public health, and reduce health inequalities. All such use would be in fulfilment of the public health function of the Local Authority.

No Identifiable data can be accessed through the NHS England’s Secure Environment. The data provided would include, the standard non-sensitive HES fields, and a common (across all Local Authorities) pseudo ID to enable admissions to be linked over time.

Legal Basis for Processing Data:

GDPR:

Article 6(1)(e)

(processing is necessary for the performance of a task in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller)

Public Authority: The Data Protection Act 2018 s7(1)(a) defines ‘public bodies’ for the purpose of the GDPR as “a public authority as defined by the Freedom of Information Act 2000”.

The FOI Act 2000 Part 1, section 3 (1)(a)(i) specifies that a public authority means any body which is listed in Schedule 1.

Schedule 1 of the FOI Act 2000 lists Local authorities within the meaning of the Local Government Act 1972 as public authorities.

‘Public Task’

Local Authorities

Local Authorities have a legal responsibility under Section (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7) of the Care Act 2014 to conduct tasks that are in the public interest to:

(1) Promoting individual well-being

(2) Preventing needs for care and support

(3) Promoting integration of care and support with health services etc.

(4) Providing information and advice

(5) Promoting diversity and quality in provision of services

(6) Co-operating generally

(7) Co-operating in specific cases

(8) Duty to meet needs for care and support

The task(s) are necessary (but are by no means an exhaustive list), but provides an indication of the many tasks required under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014 as the council has an obligation to the public to deliver services that are a necessity to the local population - from whom funding is provided to deliver these services/tasks in the form of Council Tax.

Local Authorities have a duty under Section 74 (1)(2)(3)(4) of the NHS Act 2006 to supply goods and services:

(1) In the Local Authorities (Goods and Services) Act 1970 (c. 39) the expression “public body” includes—

(a) any Strategic Health Authority, Special Health Authority or Primary Care Trust, and

(b) so far as relates to his functions under this Act, the Secretary of State.

(2) Subsection (1) has effect as if made by an order under section 1(5) of the Local Authorities (Goods and Services) Act 1970 and may be varied or revoked by such an order.

(3) Each local authority must make services available to each NHS body acting in its area, so far as is reasonably necessary and practicable to enable the NHS body to discharge its functions under this Act.

(4) “Services” means the services of persons employed by the local authority for the purposes of its functions under the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 (c. 42).

As part of the application process, the requirement for the data requested has been assessed and NHS England is content that it is appropriate, necessary and proportionate for the performance of the task described in the Purpose statement.

‘Necessity’: Throughout the application process, the necessity of the processing for the performance of the task has been assessed. This included but was not limited to ensuring appropriate minimisation of the data to ensure that only the minimum amount of data required are processed. During the application process it has been considered whether the information that the processing aims to determine is already available from other sources or whether the task could be performed using publicly available data or data from alternative sources than NHS England. Consideration has been given to whether the volume of data being requested is proportionate to the expected benefit and, through examination of the expected benefits consideration has been given to whether the task is itself necessary.

Therefore, we are satisfied that this request is appropriate, necessary and proportionate for the performance of the task described in the Purpose statement and that there is no other reasonable means for the data processor to achieve their purpose that is less intrusive to the data subjects.

Article 9(2)(h)

(processing is necessary for the purposes of preventive or occupational medicine, for the assessment of the working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services on the basis of Union or Member State law or pursuant to contract with a health professional and subject to the conditions and safeguards referred to in paragraph 3)

• The data are required for the purpose of commissioning.

• The data required by the data controllers is the least intrusive to the data subject possible to be able to conduct their functions.

• The data required for commissioning purposes is pseudonymised by NHS England to minimise the risk of identification.

As part of the standard Data Access Request Service application process:

• the applicant’s technical and organisational measures to safeguard the data have been assessed and meets NHS England’s acceptance criteria;

• the requested data has been assessed as proportionate to the aim pursued;

• respect to the essence of the right to data protection has been assessed (e.g. security assurance, data retention, controls and processing activities, etc.);

• measures to protect the rights and freedoms of data subjects have been assessed including transparency (fair processing) publishing subject’s rights to withdraw consent and/or have their data erased or rectified, etc.

Article 9(3)

(Personal data referred to in paragraph 1 may be processed for the purposes referred to in point (h) of paragraph 2 when those data are processed by or under the responsibility of a professional subject to the obligation of professional secrecy under Union or Member State law or rules established by national competent bodies or by another person also subject to an obligation of secrecy under Union or Member State law or rules established by national competent bodies.)

Existing DAE users will migrate to NHS England’s Secure Environment.

NHS England’s Controlled Environment is a data storage and access platform that enables approved users to access de-identified data and analytical tools for approved projects. Users must identify themselves via a multi-factor authentication mechanism and are only able to access the datasets detailed within this agreement. Users can request that aggregated outputs are exported from the system following approval by trained NHS England staff. The access and use of the system is fully auditable, and all users must comply with the use of the data as specified in this agreement.

Processing activities

Access to the Pseudonymised HES data sets will enable the Local Authority to undertake a wide range of locally-determined and locally-specific analyses to support the effective and efficient discharge of its statutory duties in relation to public health, and wider public health responsibilities.

This application/agreement is for online access to the record level HES database via the NHS England’s Secure Environment. The system is hosted and audited by NHS England meaning that large transfers of data to on-site servers is reduced and NHS England has the ability to audit the use and access to the data.

The NHS England’s Secure Environment is accessed via a two-factor secure authentication method to approved users who are in receipt of an encryption token ID. Users have to attend training before the account is set up and users are only permitted to access the data sets that are agreed within this agreement. Users log onto the NHS England’s Secure Environment and are presented with a SAS software application called Enterprise Guide which presents the users with a list of available data sets and available reference data tables so that they can return appropriate descriptions to the coded data.

The access and use of the system is fully auditable and all users have to comply with the use of the data as specified in this agreement. The software tool also provides users with the ability to perform full data minimisation and filtering of the HES data as part of processing activities. Users are not permitted to upload data into the system.

Users of NHS England’s Secure Environment are able to produce outputs from the system in a number of formats. The system has the ability to be able to produce small row count extracts for local analysis in Excel or other local analysis software. Users are also able to produce tabulations, aggregations, reports, charts, graphs and statistical outputs for viewing on screen or export to a local system.

Any record level data extracted from the system will not be processed outside of the Public Health team. Only registered NHS England’s Secure Environment users will have access to record level data downloaded from the NHS England’s Secure Environment.

Following completion of the analysis the record level data will be securely destroyed.

Access to the data is provided to the Local Authority only, and will only be used for the public health purposes outlined above. The data will only be processed by Local Authority employees in fulfilment of their public health function, and will not be transferred, shared, or otherwise made available to any third party, including any organisations processing data on behalf of the Local Authority or in connection with their legal function. Such organisations may include Commissioning Support Units, Data Services for Commissioners Regional Offices, any organisation for the purposes of health research, or any Business Intelligence company providing analysis and intelligence services (whether under formal contract or not).

The Local Authority will use the data to produce a range of quantitative measures (counts, crude and standardised rates and ratios) that will form the basis for a range of statistical analyses of the fields contained in the supplied data. Typical uses will include:

1. Analyses of disease incidence, prevalence and trends: The age, sex, LSOA, ethnic group, Indices of Deprivation and diagnosis fields typically will be used to produce directly standardised coronary heart disease admission rates for the Local Authority, and for appropriate benchmark and comparator areas. Confidence intervals will then be produced for these rates, and the rates analysed using statistical process control methods, to determine whether there are any significant variations in the prevalence of heart disease with the Local Authority. The data will also be used to analyse changes over time in the prevalence of heart disease. The results of these analyses will then be used to inform the production of local health profiles, JSNAs and JHWSs; support the ‘core offer’ public health advice provided by the Director of Public Health to NHS commissioners; and advise any enquiries into health inequalities requested by the Health and Wellbeing Board.

2. Analyses of hospital admission rates: The data will also be used, for example, to produce comparative and longitudinal hospital admission rates among children and young people, particularly for injury and self-harm, to support the overarching responsibility of the Local Authority to safeguard and promote the health and welfare of all children and young people under the 1989 and 2004 Children Acts. Statistics based on these analyses will be used by the Director of Public Health to advise the Director of Children’s Services and Lead Member for Children’s Services, and inform and guide the provision of safeguarding services by the Local Authority.

Conditions of supply and controls on use

In addition to those outlined elsewhere within this application, the Local Authorities will:

1. only use the HES/ECDS data for the purposes as outlined in this agreement;

2. comply with the requirements of NHS England Code of Practice on Confidential Information, the Caldicott Principles and other relevant statutory requirements and guidance to protect confidentiality;

3. not attempt any record-level linkage of HES data with other data sets held by the Local Authority, or attempt to identify any individuals from the HES data;

4. not transfer and disseminate record-level HES data to anyone outside the Local Authority;

5. not publish the results of any analyses of the HES data unless safely de-identified in line with the anonymisation standard; and

6. comply with the guidelines set out in the HES Analysis Guide;

7. ensure role-based control access is in place to manage access to the HES data within the Local Authority.

The Director of Public Health will be the Information Asset Owner for the HES data and be responsible on behalf of the Local Authority to NHS England for ensuring that the data is only used in fulfilment of the approved public health purposes as set out in this application. The Local Authority confirms that the Director of Public Health is a contracted employee to the permanent role within the Local Authority, accountable to the Chief Executive.

Data retention

A maximum of ten full years data will be accessed through the NHS England’s Secure Environment at any point, such that as each new data year is available, access to the oldest year will be suppressed i.e. at any point in time only ten historic years of data plus the current year is available. The Local Authority will securely destroy any record level data downloaded for the year’s data within six weeks of receiving access to the latest annual data set and provide a data destruction certificate to NHS England.

The historic data will be used by the Local Authority in fulfilment of its public health function, and specifically to:

a) recognise and monitor trends in disease incidence and prevalence and other risks to public health;

b) recognise and monitor trends in treatment patterns, particularly hospital readmissions, and outcomes;

c) recognise and monitor trends in access to treatment and care between demographic, geographic, ethnic and socio-economic groups in the population; and

d) recognise and monitor trends in the association between the wider social, economic and environmental determinants of health and health outcomes for the purpose of informing the planning, commissioning and provision of effective health and care services at a local level.

Expected output

The results of the analyses of the data will be used by the Local Authority to support the discharge of its statutory duties in relation to public health, and wider public health responsibilities. Outputs will include (but not be limited to) the routine and ad hoc production of:

a) Joint Strategic Needs Assessments;

b) Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies;

c) the annual report of the Director of Public Health;

d) reports commissioned by the Health and Wellbeing Board;

e) public health and wider Local Authority health and wellbeing commissioning strategies and plans;

f) public health advice to NHS commissioners;

g) responses to licensing applications and other statutory Local Authority functions requiring public health input;

h) local health profiles;

i) health impact assessments and equity audits; and, among other outputs

j) responses to internal and external requests for information and intelligence on the health and wellbeing of the population.

The specific content of and target dates for these outputs will be for the Local Authority to determine, although it is required to comply with national guidance published by the Department of Health, UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and others as appropriate, for example, on the timetable for publishing refreshed JSNAs.

All outputs shared outside of the Public Health Team will be of aggregated data with small numbers suppressed in line with the HES Analysis Guide.

Expected measurable benefits

Access to the data will enable the Local Authority to undertake locally-focused and locally-responsive analyses of health status and health outcomes. For example, the data will be used to produce analyses of health inequalities for non-standard geographies and for specific social or ethnic groups in the local population to help ensure that the health challenges facing the local population – particularly the most disadvantaged – have been identified and responded to appropriately by the Local Authority and its partners.

It is recognised that in fulfilling its public health duties using HES data, the Local Authority will deliver significant benefits. The Local Authority therefore commits in any renewal request to providing additional detail on benefits that relate to their local use of the data.

Benefits reported so far

January 2024

The overall benefit is that the results of analyses are used by the Local Authority to support the discharge of its statutory duties in relation to public health, and wider public health responsibilities, by producing routine and ad-hoc outputs such as the Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and other reports and strategies as listed on the previous section. Access to the data has allowed the Local Authority to undertake locally focused and locally responsive analyses of health status and health outcomes, which include analyses of health inequalities to help ensure that the health challenges facing the local population and communities are identified and responded to appropriately by the Local Authority and its partners.

Following the COVID-19 Pandemic Royal Borough of Greenwich has gradually returned to BAU analysis resulting in data access and analysis being increased. Examples of analyses that have been completed and partially completed include:

Number and rates of admissions of all persons due to COVID-19 looking at trends, and whether any particular underlying health issues, deprivation, age, sex and ethnicity were factors for outcome following admission

Maternity admissions: Number and rate of admissions (in a 5 year period) due to deliveries, miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, etc. For Greenwich maternity review and the JSNA to provide context, identify areas of need and change, and any challenges to inform the commissioning process and priorities for the next period.

Mental Health Admissions - ongoing work including JSNA Chapter and housing needs

Children’s hospital activity: routes of admissions, and length of stay for all admissions compared with admissions for respiratory conditions. This was linked to air quality JSNA Chapter.

Alcohol admissions: LSOA level breakdown of admissions for both narrow and broad admissions as part of alcohol harm in the borough enabling a better understanding of alcohol-related issues in Greenwich.

Drug Admissions: As for alcohol related admission, linking to addictions needs analysis and strategy.

Falls admissions: Emergency admissions in over 65s - performance reporting for services.

Datasets on the current version

Legal basis for provision: Health and Social Care Act 2012 – s261(2)(a)

Datasets approved under DARS-NIC-10929-K8H5K-v7.2
DatasetType of dataSensitivity FrequencyConfidential data
Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS) Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive System Access Does not include the flow of confidential data
Hospital Episode Statistics Accident and Emergency (HES A and E) Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Non-Sensitive System Access Does not include the flow of confidential data
Hospital Episode Statistics Admitted Patient Care (HES APC) Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Non-Sensitive System Access Does not include the flow of confidential data
Hospital Episode Statistics Critical Care (HES Critical Care) Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Non-Sensitive System Access Does not include the flow of confidential data
Hospital Episode Statistics Outpatients (HES OP) Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Non-Sensitive System Access Does not include the flow of confidential data

Files released

Files released counts only files released externally by DARS. Access granted in NHS England's own systems, such as its Secure Data Environment, is not included.

No files recorded as released under this agreement.

Version history

The register lists each renewal of this agreement as a separate row. This site has 5 versions — earlier versions existed before this site's records begin.

DARS-NIC-10929-K8H5K-v7.2 12 April 2024 to 9 April 2027
Title
LAPH HES via NHS England’s Secure Environment
Commercial
No
Sublicensing
No
Datasets
5
Files released
0

Datasets: Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS); Hospital Episode Statistics Accident and Emergency (HES A and E); Hospital Episode Statistics Admitted Patient Care (HES APC); Hospital Episode Statistics Critical Care (HES Critical Care); Hospital Episode Statistics Outpatients (HES OP)

What changed from DARS-NIC-10929-K8H5K-v6.2

Text removed is struck through; text added is underlined. Unchanged paragraphs are summarised rather than repeated.

Fields changed from DARS-NIC-10929-K8H5K-v6.2
FieldWasBecame
TitleLAPH HES via NHS Digital PortalLAPH HES via NHS England’s Secure Environment
Start date2021-03-182024-04-12
End date2024-01-312027-04-09
Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS): legal basisHealth and Social Care Act 2012 - s261 - 'Other dissemination of information'Health and Social Care Act 2012 – s261(2)(a)
Hospital Episode Statistics Accident and Emergency (HES A and E): legal basisHealth and Social Care Act 2012 - s261 - 'Other dissemination of information'Health and Social Care Act 2012 – s261(2)(a)
Hospital Episode Statistics Admitted Patient Care (HES APC): legal basisHealth and Social Care Act 2012 - s261 - 'Other dissemination of information'Health and Social Care Act 2012 – s261(2)(a)
Hospital Episode Statistics Critical Care (HES Critical Care): legal basisHealth and Social Care Act 2012 - s261 - 'Other dissemination of information'Health and Social Care Act 2012 – s261(2)(a)
Hospital Episode Statistics Outpatients (HES OP): legal basisHealth and Social Care Act 2012 - s261 - 'Other dissemination of information'Health and Social Care Act 2012 – s261(2)(a)

Objective for processing

The Health Episode Statistics (HES) Data accessed through the NHS Digital Portal England’s Secure Environment will be used by the Local Authorities Authority in fulfilment of its public health function, specifically to support and improve: [13 paragraphs unchanged] b) Duty to support Health and Wellbeing Boards: Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the Local Authority and the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)-led Integrated Care Board (ICB)-led Health and Wellbeing Board under Section 194 of the 2012 Act to [32 words unchanged] under Section 206 of the 2012 Act to undertake Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments; [7 paragraphs unchanged] b) Local health profiles: Analyses of the data will be used to support the production of locally-commissioned health profiles to improve understand understanding of the health priorities of local areas and guide strategic commissioning plans by focusing, for example, on: [6 paragraphs unchanged] No sensitive Identifiable data can be accessed through the NHS Digital Portal. England’s Secure Environment. The data provided would include, the standard non-sensitive HES fields, and a common (across all Local Authorities) TokenID pseudo ID to enable admissions to be linked over time. Legal Basis for Processing Data: GDPR: Article 6(1)(e) (processing is necessary for the performance of a task in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller) Public Authority: The Data Protection Act 2018 s7(1)(a) defines ‘public bodies’ for the purpose of the GDPR as “a public authority as defined by the Freedom of Information Act 2000”. The FOI Act 2000 Part 1, section 3 (1)(a)(i) specifies that a public authority means any body which is listed in Schedule 1. Schedule 1 of the FOI Act 2000 lists Local authorities within the meaning of the Local Government Act 1972 as public authorities. ‘Public Task’ Local Authorities Local Authorities have a legal responsibility under Section (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7) of the Care Act 2014 to conduct tasks that are in the public interest to: (1) Promoting individual well-being (2) Preventing needs for care and support (3) Promoting integration of care and support with health services etc. (4) Providing information and advice (5) Promoting diversity and quality in provision of services (6) Co-operating generally (7) Co-operating in specific cases (8) Duty to meet needs for care and support The task(s) are necessary (but are by no means an exhaustive list), but provides an indication of the many tasks required under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014 as the council has an obligation to the public to deliver services that are a necessity to the local population - from whom funding is provided to deliver these services/tasks in the form of Council Tax. Local Authorities have a duty under Section 74 (1)(2)(3)(4) of the NHS Act 2006 to supply goods and services: (1) In the Local Authorities (Goods and Services) Act 1970 (c. 39) the expression “public body” includes— (a) any Strategic Health Authority, Special Health Authority or Primary Care Trust, and (b) so far as relates to his functions under this Act, the Secretary of State. (2) Subsection (1) has effect as if made by an order under section 1(5) of the Local Authorities (Goods and Services) Act 1970 and may be varied or revoked by such an order. (3) Each local authority must make services available to each NHS body acting in its area, so far as is reasonably necessary and practicable to enable the NHS body to discharge its functions under this Act. (4) “Services” means the services of persons employed by the local authority for the purposes of its functions under the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 (c. 42). As part of the application process, the requirement for the data requested has been assessed and NHS England is content that it is appropriate, necessary and proportionate for the performance of the task described in the Purpose statement. ‘Necessity’: Throughout the application process, the necessity of the processing for the performance of the task has been assessed. This included but was not limited to ensuring appropriate minimisation of the data to ensure that only the minimum amount of data required are processed. During the application process it has been considered whether the information that the processing aims to determine is already available from other sources or whether the task could be performed using publicly available data or data from alternative sources than NHS England. Consideration has been given to whether the volume of data being requested is proportionate to the expected benefit and, through examination of the expected benefits consideration has been given to whether the task is itself necessary. Therefore, we are satisfied that this request is appropriate, necessary and proportionate for the performance of the task described in the Purpose statement and that there is no other reasonable means for the data processor to achieve their purpose that is less intrusive to the data subjects. Article 9(2)(h) (processing is necessary for the purposes of preventive or occupational medicine, for the assessment of the working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services on the basis of Union or Member State law or pursuant to contract with a health professional and subject to the conditions and safeguards referred to in paragraph 3) • The data are required for the purpose of commissioning. • The data required by the data controllers is the least intrusive to the data subject possible to be able to conduct their functions. • The data required for commissioning purposes is pseudonymised by NHS England to minimise the risk of identification. As part of the standard Data Access Request Service application process: • the applicant’s technical and organisational measures to safeguard the data have been assessed and meets NHS England’s acceptance criteria; • the requested data has been assessed as proportionate to the aim pursued; • respect to the essence of the right to data protection has been assessed (e.g. security assurance, data retention, controls and processing activities, etc.); • measures to protect the rights and freedoms of data subjects have been assessed including transparency (fair processing) publishing subject’s rights to withdraw consent and/or have their data erased or rectified, etc. Article 9(3) (Personal data referred to in paragraph 1 may be processed for the purposes referred to in point (h) of paragraph 2 when those data are processed by or under the responsibility of a professional subject to the obligation of professional secrecy under Union or Member State law or rules established by national competent bodies or by another person also subject to an obligation of secrecy under Union or Member State law or rules established by national competent bodies.) Existing DAE users will migrate to NHS England’s Secure Environment. NHS England’s Controlled Environment is a data storage and access platform that enables approved users to access de-identified data and analytical tools for approved projects. Users must identify themselves via a multi-factor authentication mechanism and are only able to access the datasets detailed within this agreement. Users can request that aggregated outputs are exported from the system following approval by trained NHS England staff. The access and use of the system is fully auditable, and all users must comply with the use of the data as specified in this agreement.

Processing activities

[1 paragraph unchanged] This application/agreement is for online access to the record level HES database via the NHS Digital Portal system. England’s Secure Environment. The system is hosted and audited by NHS Digital England meaning that large transfers of data to on-site servers is reduced and NHS Digital England has the ability to audit the use and access to the data. The NHS Digital Portal system England’s Secure Environment is accessed via a two-factor secure authentication method to approved users who [28 words unchanged] sets that are agreed within this agreement. Users log onto the NHS Digital Portal system England’s Secure Environment and are presented with a SAS software application called Enterprise Guide which [14 words unchanged] tables so that they can return appropriate descriptions to the coded data. [1 paragraph unchanged] Users of NHS Digital Portal system England’s Secure Environment are able to produce outputs from the system in a number of [37 words unchanged] statistical outputs for viewing on screen or export to a local system. Any record level data extracted from the system will not be processed outside of the Public Health team. Only registered NHS Digital Portal system England’s Secure Environment users will have access to record level data downloaded from the NHS Digital Portal system. England’s Secure Environment. [7 paragraphs unchanged] 1. only use the HES HES/ECDS data for the purposes as outlined in this agreement; 2. comply with the requirements of NHS Digital England Code of Practice on Confidential Information, the Caldicott Principles and other relevant statutory requirements and guidance to protect confidentiality; [5 paragraphs unchanged] The Director of Public Health will be the Information Asset Owner for the HES data and be responsible on behalf of the Local Authority to NHS Digital England for ensuring that the data is only used in fulfilment of the [25 words unchanged] the permanent role within the Local Authority, accountable to the Chief Executive. [1 paragraph unchanged] A maximum of ten full years data will be accessed through the NHS Digital Portal system England’s Secure Environment at any point, such that as each new data year is available, [49 words unchanged] latest annual data set and provide a data destruction certificate to NHS Digital. England. [4 paragraphs unchanged] d) recognise and monitor trends in the association between the wider social, economic and environmental determinants of health and health outcomes for the purpose of informing the planning, commissioning and provision of effective health and care services at a local level. for the purpose of informing the planning, commissioning and provision of effective health and care services at a local level.

Expected output

[11 paragraphs unchanged] The specific content of and target dates for these outputs will be [9 words unchanged] required to comply with national guidance published by the Department of Health, Public UK Health England Security Agency (UKHSA) and others as appropriate, for example, on the timetable for publishing refreshed JSNAs. [1 paragraph unchanged]

Benefits reported

Feb 2021 January 2024 The overall benefit is that the results of analyses are used by the Local Authority to support the [38 words unchanged] section. Access to the data has allowed the Local Authority to undertake locally-focused locally focused and locally-responsive locally responsive analyses of health status and health outcomes, which include analyses of health [15 words unchanged] identified and responded to appropriately by the Local Authority and its partners. Due to Following the current COVID-19 Pandemic Royal Borough of Greenwich have not undertaken as much has gradually returned to BAU analysis resulting in data access and analysis being limited. increased. Examples of analyses that have been completed and partially completed include: Number and rates of admissions of all persons due to COVID-19 looking at trends, and whether any particular underlying heath health issues, deprivation, age, sex and ethnicity were factors for outcome following admission Maternity admissions: Number and rate of admissions (in a 5 year period) [16 words unchanged] context, identify areas of need and change, and any challenges to inform the commissioning process and priorities for the next period. Homeless and Housing Providers: to finding out what type of housing the patient was discharged to, whether they were identified as homeless, and whether there had been liaison with Royal Borough of Greenwich to arrange discharge. Looking to see if there had been an increase in people requiring support due to the effects of COVID. Mental Health Admissions - ongoing work including JSNA Chapter and housing needs Eating Disorders: National reports suggested increased admissions nationally. Sought to see if this was replicated locally. Children’s hospital activity: routes of admissions, and length of stay for all admissions compared with admissions for respiratory conditions. This was linked to air quality JSNA Chapter. Mental Health Admissions - ongoing Alcohol admissions: LSOA level breakdown of admissions for both narrow and broad admissions as part of alcohol harm in the borough enabling a better understanding of alcohol-related issues in Greenwich. Children’s hospital activity: routes of admissions, and length of stay for all admissions compared with admissions for respiratory conditions. This was linked to air quality work. Drug Admissions: As for alcohol related admission, linking to addictions needs analysis and strategy. Alcohol admissions: LSOA level breakdown of admissions for both narrow and broad admissions as part of alcohol harm in the borough. Used to contribute to work on the Statement of Licencing Policy (SoLP), where updated data can be provided to develop and review the Licencing objectives. Also, data used in two local tools - Alcohol Harm Dashboard and (in development) Alcohol Vulnerability Profile. Granularity of data has given the Licencing Team a better understanding of alcohol-related issues surrounding premises in Greenwich. Falls admissions: Emergency admissions in over 65s - performance reporting for services.

Unchanged: Expected measurable benefits.

DARS-NIC-10929-K8H5K-v6.2 18 March 2021 to 31 January 2024
Title
LAPH HES via NHS Digital Portal
Commercial
No
Sublicensing
No
Datasets
5
Files released
0

Datasets: Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS); Hospital Episode Statistics Accident and Emergency (HES A and E); Hospital Episode Statistics Admitted Patient Care (HES APC); Hospital Episode Statistics Critical Care (HES Critical Care); Hospital Episode Statistics Outpatients (HES OP)

What changed from DARS-NIC-10929-K8H5K-v5.2

Text removed is struck through; text added is underlined. Unchanged paragraphs are summarised rather than repeated.

Fields changed from DARS-NIC-10929-K8H5K-v5.2
FieldWasBecame
Start date2020-06-262021-03-18
End date2021-03-312024-01-31
Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS): legal basisHealth and Social Care Act 2012 – s261(2)(b)(ii)Health and Social Care Act 2012 - s261 - 'Other dissemination of information'
Hospital Episode Statistics Accident and Emergency (HES A and E): legal basisHealth and Social Care Act 2012 – s261(2)(b)(ii)Health and Social Care Act 2012 - s261 - 'Other dissemination of information'
Hospital Episode Statistics Admitted Patient Care (HES APC): legal basisHealth and Social Care Act 2012 – s261(2)(b)(ii)Health and Social Care Act 2012 - s261 - 'Other dissemination of information'
Hospital Episode Statistics Critical Care (HES Critical Care): legal basisHealth and Social Care Act 2012 – s261(2)(b)(ii)Health and Social Care Act 2012 - s261 - 'Other dissemination of information'
Hospital Episode Statistics Outpatients (HES OP): legal basisHealth and Social Care Act 2012 – s261(2)(b)(ii)Health and Social Care Act 2012 - s261 - 'Other dissemination of information'

Objective for processing

[29 paragraphs unchanged] No sensitive data can be accessed through the NHS Digital Portal. The data provided would include, the standard non-sensitive HES fields, and a common (across all Local Authorities) pseudoHESID TokenID to enable admissions to be linked over time.

Expected measurable benefits

[2 paragraphs unchanged] The expected benefits in 2020-21 will include (but not limited to): - supporting NHS Commissioners with PCN data packs in light of recent changes to Greenwich CCG - a total refresh of the Greenwich JSNA

Benefits reported

Feb 2021 [1 paragraph unchanged] Due to the change from HDIS to DAE during 2019-20, and the complications that arose, current COVID-19 Pandemic Royal Borough of Greenwich have not undertaken as much analysis resulting in data access and analysis has been being limited. Examples of analyses that have been completed and partially completed include: - Rates of emergency admissions of children at ward and children's centre areas were provided for the children's centre datapacks (refresh). These packs are provided to children's centres in Royal Borough of Greenwich to inform them of health and well-being issues within their patch and the wider borough, and to support them in choosing priorities to focus on. Number and rates of admissions of all persons due to COVID-19 looking at trends, and whether any particular underlying heath issues, deprivation, age, sex and ethnicity were factors for outcome following admission - emergency admissions and elective admissions by IMD quintile, comparing least and most affluent quintiles in Greenwich. Results provided to Greenwich CCG to help the CCG focus on how they best deliver improved health outcomes. Maternity admissions: Number and rate of admissions (in a 5 year period) due to deliveries, miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, etc. For Greenwich maternity review and the JSNA to provide context, identify areas of need and change, and any challenges to inform commissioning process and priorities for the next period. - Number of admissions of children and young people due to substance misuse, looking at trends, and whether any particular substances are highlighted (primary diagnosis). For use in JSNA. Homeless and Housing Providers: to finding out what type of housing the patient was discharged to, whether they were identified as homeless, and whether there had been liaison with Royal Borough of Greenwich to arrange discharge. Looking to see if there had been an increase in people requiring support due to the effects of COVID. - The rate of diabetes admissions at MSOA level. This was provided, along with other relevant data, to assist the Greenwich traffic planning teams with a project aiming to increase physical activity, and improve air quality through the creation of low traffic neighbourhoods. Eating Disorders: National reports suggested increased admissions nationally. Sought to see if this was replicated locally. - Maternity admissions. Number and rate of admissions (in a 5 year period) due to deliveries, miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, etc. For Greenwich maternity review and the JSNA to provide context, identify areas of need and change, and any challenges to inform commissioning process and priorities for the next period. Mental Health Admissions - ongoing Children’s hospital activity: routes of admissions, and length of stay for all admissions compared with admissions for respiratory conditions. This was linked to air quality work. Alcohol admissions: LSOA level breakdown of admissions for both narrow and broad admissions as part of alcohol harm in the borough. Used to contribute to work on the Statement of Licencing Policy (SoLP), where updated data can be provided to develop and review the Licencing objectives. Also, data used in two local tools - Alcohol Harm Dashboard and (in development) Alcohol Vulnerability Profile. Granularity of data has given the Licencing Team a better understanding of alcohol-related issues surrounding premises in Greenwich.

Unchanged: Processing activities, Expected output.

Objective for processing

The Health Episode Statistics (HES) Data accessed through the NHS Digital Portal will be used by the Local Authorities in fulfilment of its public health function, specifically to support and improve:

1. the local responsiveness, targeting and value for money of commissioned public health services;

2. the statutory ‘core offer’ public health advice and support provided to local NHS commissioners;

3. the local specificity and relevance of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and Health and Wellbeing Strategies produced in collaboration with NHS and voluntary sector partners on the Health and Wellbeing Board;

4. the local focus, responsiveness and timeliness of health impact assessments; and, among other benefits

5. the capability of the local public health intelligence service to undertake comparative longitudinal analyses of patterns of and variations in:

a) the incidence and prevalence of disease and risks to public health;

b) demand for and access to treatment and preventative care services;

c) variations in health outcomes between groups in the population;

d) the level of integration between local health and care services; and

e) the local associations between causal risk factors and health status and outcomes.

The main statutory duties and wider public health responsibilities supporting these processing objectives are as follows:

1. Statutory public health duties that the data will be used to support

a) Duty to improve public health: Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the Local Authority under Section 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to take appropriate steps to improve the health of the population, for example by providing information and advice, services and facilities, and incentives and assistance to encourage and enable people to lead healthier lives;

b) Duty to support Health and Wellbeing Boards: Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the Local Authority and the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)-led Health and Wellbeing Board under Section 194 of the 2012 Act to improve health and wellbeing, reduce health inequalities, and promote the integration of health and care services; the data will also be used to support the statutory duty of Health and Wellbeing Boards under Section 206 of the 2012 Act to undertake Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments;

c) Duty to produce Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs) and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies (JHWBs): Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the Local Authority under Sections 192 and 193 of the 2012 Act to consult on and publish JSNAs and JHWSs that assess the current and future health and wellbeing needs of the local population;

d) Duty to commission specific public health services: Analyses of the data will be used to support the Local Authority to discharge its duty under the Local Authorities Regulations 2013 to plan and provide NHS Health Check assessments, the National Child Measurement Programme, and open access sexual health services;

e) Duty to provide public health advice to NHS commissioners: Analyses of the data will be used by Local Authorities to discharge its duty under the 2013 Regulations to provide a public health advice service to NHS commissioners;

f) Duty to publish an annual public health report: Analyses of the data will be used by Directors of Public Health to support their duty to prepare and publish an annual report on the health of the local population under Section 31 the 2012 Act;

g) Public Health responses on behalf of the Local Authority to licensing applications and other statutory Local Authority functions requiring public health input: Analyses of the data will be used by the Director of Public Health to support their duty under Part 3 of the National Health Services Act 2006 (as amended by Section 30 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012) to provide the Local Authority’s public health response (as the responsible authority under the Licensing Act 2003, as amended by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 Schedule 5 – Part 1) to licensing applications.

2. Wider public health responsibilities supported by analysis of the data

a) Health impact assessments and equity audits: Analyses of the data will be used to assess the potential impacts on health and the wider social economic and environmental determinants of health of Local Authority strategic plans, policies and services;

b) Local health profiles: Analyses of the data will be used to support the production of locally-commissioned health profiles to improve understand of the health priorities of local areas and guide strategic commissioning plans by focusing, for example, on:

i. bespoke local geographies (based on the non-standard aggregation of LSOAs);

ii. specific demographic, geographic, ethnic and socio-economic groups in the population;

iii. inequalities in health status, access to treatment and treatment outcomes;

c) Surveillance of trends in health status and health outcomes: Analyses of the data will be used for the longitudinal monitoring of trends in the incidence, prevalence, treatment and outcomes for a wide range of diseases and other risks to public health;

d) Responsive and timely local health intelligence service: Analyses of the data will be used to respond to ad hoc internal and external requests for information and intelligence on the health status and outcomes of the local population generated and received by the Director of Public Health and their team.

These lists of the statutory duties and wider public health responsibilities of the Local Authority are not exhaustive but set the broad parameters for how the data will be used by the Local Authority to help improve and protect public health, and reduce health inequalities. All such use would be in fulfilment of the public health function of the Local Authority.

No sensitive data can be accessed through the NHS Digital Portal. The data provided would include, the standard non-sensitive HES fields, and a common (across all Local Authorities) TokenID to enable admissions to be linked over time.

Expected output

The results of the analyses of the data will be used by the Local Authority to support the discharge of its statutory duties in relation to public health, and wider public health responsibilities. Outputs will include (but not be limited to) the routine and ad hoc production of:

a) Joint Strategic Needs Assessments;

b) Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies;

c) the annual report of the Director of Public Health;

d) reports commissioned by the Health and Wellbeing Board;

e) public health and wider Local Authority health and wellbeing commissioning strategies and plans;

f) public health advice to NHS commissioners;

g) responses to licensing applications and other statutory Local Authority functions requiring public health input;

h) local health profiles;

i) health impact assessments and equity audits; and, among other outputs

j) responses to internal and external requests for information and intelligence on the health and wellbeing of the population.

The specific content of and target dates for these outputs will be for the Local Authority to determine, although it is required to comply with national guidance published by the Department of Health, Public Health England and others as appropriate, for example, on the timetable for publishing refreshed JSNAs.

All outputs shared outside of the Public Health Team will be of aggregated data with small numbers suppressed in line with the HES Analysis Guide.

Benefits reported

Feb 2021

The overall benefit is that results of analyses are used by the Local Authority to support the discharge of its statutory duties in relation to public health, and wider public health responsibilities, by producing routine and ad-hoc outputs such as the Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and other reports and strategies as listed on the previous section. Access to the data has allowed the Local Authority to undertake locally-focused and locally-responsive analyses of health status and health outcomes, which include analyses of health inequalities to help ensure that the health challenges facing the local population and communities are identified and responded to appropriately by the Local Authority and its partners.

Due to the current COVID-19 Pandemic Royal Borough of Greenwich have not undertaken as much analysis resulting in data access and analysis being limited. Examples of analyses that have been completed and partially completed include:

Number and rates of admissions of all persons due to COVID-19 looking at trends, and whether any particular underlying heath issues, deprivation, age, sex and ethnicity were factors for outcome following admission

Maternity admissions: Number and rate of admissions (in a 5 year period) due to deliveries, miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, etc. For Greenwich maternity review and the JSNA to provide context, identify areas of need and change, and any challenges to inform commissioning process and priorities for the next period.

Homeless and Housing Providers: to finding out what type of housing the patient was discharged to, whether they were identified as homeless, and whether there had been liaison with Royal Borough of Greenwich to arrange discharge. Looking to see if there had been an increase in people requiring support due to the effects of COVID.

Eating Disorders: National reports suggested increased admissions nationally. Sought to see if this was replicated locally.

Mental Health Admissions - ongoing

Children’s hospital activity: routes of admissions, and length of stay for all admissions compared with admissions for respiratory conditions. This was linked to air quality work.

Alcohol admissions: LSOA level breakdown of admissions for both narrow and broad admissions as part of alcohol harm in the borough. Used to contribute to work on the Statement of Licencing Policy (SoLP), where updated data can be provided to develop and review the Licencing objectives. Also, data used in two local tools - Alcohol Harm Dashboard and (in development) Alcohol Vulnerability Profile. Granularity of data has given the Licencing Team a better understanding of alcohol-related issues surrounding premises in Greenwich.

DARS-NIC-10929-K8H5K-v5.2 26 June 2020 to 31 March 2021
Title
LAPH HES via NHS Digital Portal
Commercial
No
Sublicensing
No
Datasets
5
Files released
0

Datasets: Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS); Hospital Episode Statistics Accident and Emergency (HES A and E); Hospital Episode Statistics Admitted Patient Care (HES APC); Hospital Episode Statistics Critical Care (HES Critical Care); Hospital Episode Statistics Outpatients (HES OP)

What changed from DARS-NIC-10929-K8H5K-v4.2

Text removed is struck through; text added is underlined. Unchanged paragraphs are summarised rather than repeated.

Fields changed from DARS-NIC-10929-K8H5K-v4.2
FieldWasBecame
Start date2020-04-012020-06-26

Benefits reported

[2 paragraphs unchanged] - Rates of emergency admissions of children at ward and children's centre areas areas were provided for the children's centre datapacks (refresh). These packs are provided to children's centres in London Royal Borough of Greenwich (also known as Royal Borough of Greenwich) to inform them of health and well-being issues within their patch and the wider borough, and to support them in choosing priorities to focus on. [4 paragraphs unchanged]

Unchanged: Objective for processing, Processing activities, Expected output, Expected measurable benefits.

Objective for processing

The Health Episode Statistics (HES) Data accessed through the NHS Digital Portal will be used by the Local Authorities in fulfilment of its public health function, specifically to support and improve:

1. the local responsiveness, targeting and value for money of commissioned public health services;

2. the statutory ‘core offer’ public health advice and support provided to local NHS commissioners;

3. the local specificity and relevance of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and Health and Wellbeing Strategies produced in collaboration with NHS and voluntary sector partners on the Health and Wellbeing Board;

4. the local focus, responsiveness and timeliness of health impact assessments; and, among other benefits

5. the capability of the local public health intelligence service to undertake comparative longitudinal analyses of patterns of and variations in:

a) the incidence and prevalence of disease and risks to public health;

b) demand for and access to treatment and preventative care services;

c) variations in health outcomes between groups in the population;

d) the level of integration between local health and care services; and

e) the local associations between causal risk factors and health status and outcomes.

The main statutory duties and wider public health responsibilities supporting these processing objectives are as follows:

1. Statutory public health duties that the data will be used to support

a) Duty to improve public health: Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the Local Authority under Section 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to take appropriate steps to improve the health of the population, for example by providing information and advice, services and facilities, and incentives and assistance to encourage and enable people to lead healthier lives;

b) Duty to support Health and Wellbeing Boards: Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the Local Authority and the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)-led Health and Wellbeing Board under Section 194 of the 2012 Act to improve health and wellbeing, reduce health inequalities, and promote the integration of health and care services; the data will also be used to support the statutory duty of Health and Wellbeing Boards under Section 206 of the 2012 Act to undertake Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments;

c) Duty to produce Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs) and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies (JHWBs): Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the Local Authority under Sections 192 and 193 of the 2012 Act to consult on and publish JSNAs and JHWSs that assess the current and future health and wellbeing needs of the local population;

d) Duty to commission specific public health services: Analyses of the data will be used to support the Local Authority to discharge its duty under the Local Authorities Regulations 2013 to plan and provide NHS Health Check assessments, the National Child Measurement Programme, and open access sexual health services;

e) Duty to provide public health advice to NHS commissioners: Analyses of the data will be used by Local Authorities to discharge its duty under the 2013 Regulations to provide a public health advice service to NHS commissioners;

f) Duty to publish an annual public health report: Analyses of the data will be used by Directors of Public Health to support their duty to prepare and publish an annual report on the health of the local population under Section 31 the 2012 Act;

g) Public Health responses on behalf of the Local Authority to licensing applications and other statutory Local Authority functions requiring public health input: Analyses of the data will be used by the Director of Public Health to support their duty under Part 3 of the National Health Services Act 2006 (as amended by Section 30 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012) to provide the Local Authority’s public health response (as the responsible authority under the Licensing Act 2003, as amended by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 Schedule 5 – Part 1) to licensing applications.

2. Wider public health responsibilities supported by analysis of the data

a) Health impact assessments and equity audits: Analyses of the data will be used to assess the potential impacts on health and the wider social economic and environmental determinants of health of Local Authority strategic plans, policies and services;

b) Local health profiles: Analyses of the data will be used to support the production of locally-commissioned health profiles to improve understand of the health priorities of local areas and guide strategic commissioning plans by focusing, for example, on:

i. bespoke local geographies (based on the non-standard aggregation of LSOAs);

ii. specific demographic, geographic, ethnic and socio-economic groups in the population;

iii. inequalities in health status, access to treatment and treatment outcomes;

c) Surveillance of trends in health status and health outcomes: Analyses of the data will be used for the longitudinal monitoring of trends in the incidence, prevalence, treatment and outcomes for a wide range of diseases and other risks to public health;

d) Responsive and timely local health intelligence service: Analyses of the data will be used to respond to ad hoc internal and external requests for information and intelligence on the health status and outcomes of the local population generated and received by the Director of Public Health and their team.

These lists of the statutory duties and wider public health responsibilities of the Local Authority are not exhaustive but set the broad parameters for how the data will be used by the Local Authority to help improve and protect public health, and reduce health inequalities. All such use would be in fulfilment of the public health function of the Local Authority.

No sensitive data can be accessed through the NHS Digital Portal. The data provided would include, the standard non-sensitive HES fields, and a common (across all Local Authorities) pseudoHESID to enable admissions to be linked over time.

Expected output

The results of the analyses of the data will be used by the Local Authority to support the discharge of its statutory duties in relation to public health, and wider public health responsibilities. Outputs will include (but not be limited to) the routine and ad hoc production of:

a) Joint Strategic Needs Assessments;

b) Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies;

c) the annual report of the Director of Public Health;

d) reports commissioned by the Health and Wellbeing Board;

e) public health and wider Local Authority health and wellbeing commissioning strategies and plans;

f) public health advice to NHS commissioners;

g) responses to licensing applications and other statutory Local Authority functions requiring public health input;

h) local health profiles;

i) health impact assessments and equity audits; and, among other outputs

j) responses to internal and external requests for information and intelligence on the health and wellbeing of the population.

The specific content of and target dates for these outputs will be for the Local Authority to determine, although it is required to comply with national guidance published by the Department of Health, Public Health England and others as appropriate, for example, on the timetable for publishing refreshed JSNAs.

All outputs shared outside of the Public Health Team will be of aggregated data with small numbers suppressed in line with the HES Analysis Guide.

Benefits reported

The overall benefit is that results of analyses are used by the Local Authority to support the discharge of its statutory duties in relation to public health, and wider public health responsibilities, by producing routine and ad-hoc outputs such as the Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and other reports and strategies as listed on the previous section. Access to the data has allowed the Local Authority to undertake locally-focused and locally-responsive analyses of health status and health outcomes, which include analyses of health inequalities to help ensure that the health challenges facing the local population and communities are identified and responded to appropriately by the Local Authority and its partners.

Due to the change from HDIS to DAE during 2019-20, and the complications that arose, data access and analysis has been limited. Examples of analyses that have been completed include:

- Rates of emergency admissions of children at ward and children's centre areas were provided for the children's centre datapacks (refresh). These packs are provided to children's centres in Royal Borough of Greenwich to inform them of health and well-being issues within their patch and the wider borough, and to support them in choosing priorities to focus on.

- emergency admissions and elective admissions by IMD quintile, comparing least and most affluent quintiles in Greenwich. Results provided to Greenwich CCG to help the CCG focus on how they best deliver improved health outcomes.

- Number of admissions of children and young people due to substance misuse, looking at trends, and whether any particular substances are highlighted (primary diagnosis). For use in JSNA.

- The rate of diabetes admissions at MSOA level. This was provided, along with other relevant data, to assist the Greenwich traffic planning teams with a project aiming to increase physical activity, and improve air quality through the creation of low traffic neighbourhoods.

- Maternity admissions. Number and rate of admissions (in a 5 year period) due to deliveries, miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, etc. For Greenwich maternity review and the JSNA to provide context, identify areas of need and change, and any challenges to inform commissioning process and priorities for the next period.

DARS-NIC-10929-K8H5K-v4.2 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021
Title
LAPH HES via NHS Digital Portal
Commercial
No
Sublicensing
No
Datasets
5
Files released
0

Datasets: Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS); Hospital Episode Statistics Accident and Emergency (HES A and E); Hospital Episode Statistics Admitted Patient Care (HES APC); Hospital Episode Statistics Critical Care (HES Critical Care); Hospital Episode Statistics Outpatients (HES OP)

What changed from DARS-NIC-10929-K8H5K-v3.2

Text removed is struck through; text added is underlined. Unchanged paragraphs are summarised rather than repeated.

Fields changed from DARS-NIC-10929-K8H5K-v3.2
FieldWasBecame
TitleLAPH NHS Digital Portal AccessLAPH HES via NHS Digital Portal
Start date2019-04-012020-04-01
End date2020-03-312021-03-31

Datasets: + Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS)

Processing activities

Access to the Pseudonymised HES data sets will enable the Local Authority to undertake a wide range of locally-determined [12 words unchanged] statutory duties in relation to public health, and wider public health responsibilities. [1 paragraph unchanged] The NHS Digital Portal system is accessed via a two-factor secure authentication [20 words unchanged] account is set up and users are only permitted to access the datasets data sets that are agreed within this agreement. Users log onto the NHS Digital [28 words unchanged] tables so that they can return appropriate descriptions to the coded data. [2 paragraphs unchanged] Any record level data extracted from the system will not be processed outside of the Public Health team. **Only Only registered NHS Digital Portal system users will have access to record level data downloaded from the NHS Digital Portal system system. [16 paragraphs unchanged] A maximum of ten full years data will be accessed through the [55 words unchanged] year’s data within six weeks of receiving access to the latest annual dataset data set and provide a data destruction certificate to NHS Digital. [6 paragraphs unchanged]

Expected measurable benefits

[2 paragraphs unchanged] The expected benefits in 2019-20 2020-21 will include: include (but not limited to): • Updating rates of admissions from dental caries, particularly among children as part of a review of oral health in Greenwich. This piece of work was deferred from 2017 and will allow Royal Borough of Greenwich (RBG) to have a better overall picture of oral health needs, and to target any public health campaigns if a need for this is identified. - supporting NHS Commissioners with PCN data packs in light of recent changes to Greenwich CCG • Previous analyses of respiratory admissions identified that there were high numbers of cases, especially as a result of asthma. This led to the funding of a pilot asthma nursing service by Greenwich CCG (GCCG) in 2017/18 as a potential means to improve management of this condition in the community. The local authority and their health partners on the Public Health and Wellbeing Board (PHWB) board will want to examine what impact if any this has yet had in improving the health of this group and this will be revisited in 2019-20. Analyses of hospital admissions data will identify if there appears to have been a change in the number of admissions from this cause and to identify any variation across the borough, as well as look at the most up to date in-year information. - a total refresh of the Greenwich JSNA • In 2019/20 RBG will also be examining patterns and trends in admissions due to respiratory illness, to consider the impact of air pollution, if any, on the local population, in particular children in Greenwich, and highlighting any findings /recommendations for action in our JSNA. • Data packs for Greenwich children’s centres will be updated in 2019. These include rates for admissions of children due to accidents and support children’s centres in identifying priorities for health promotion in their neighbourhood. • Supporting an ongoing piece of work examining CAMHS admissions which aim to ensure there is equity of access to mental health services to all young people in the borough and avoid late identification of mental health problems. • Supporting an ongoing piece of work examining high levels of mental health admissions due to substance misuse which is being undertaken jointly by PHWB and the substance misuse commissioning team in RBG, Oxleas NHS Trust and GCCG by identifying if there is any change in the trend and pattern of admissions following redevelopment of services and reviews of patient pathways. • The level of admissions due to falls and hip fractures had increased in Greenwich and as a result the CCG has reinvested in falls prevention. The PH team will continue to monitor this and new indicators have been added to the Public Health report which is presented to the RBG Health Services and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel. • Continue to monitor levels of attendance at A&E and hospital admissions by children and young people, which had been high in particular areas, and to identify if there have been improvements as a results of improvements planned by the children’s services strategic partnership. The indicators have also been added to a refresh of the Public Health section of the report presented to the RBG Health Services and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel. • It is anticipated that RBG will profile admissions to hospital and A&E attendance in specific wards within Greenwich to apply for section 106 funding following a pilot in Greenwich West ward in 2018. • In 2019 the team will update results for admissions due to malnutrition in Greenwich as part of our focus on food poverty in the borough. Due to the small numbers of admissions further years data is required to help identify if this is an issue of concern for any of the local population groups. • Updating the harmful drinking section of the JSNA in 2019-20 which looks at the impact of alcohol on health and wellbeing in Greenwich. This will in turn contribute to the next refresh of the Alcohol Strategy (currently running to 2016-2020) and action plan. • The team will be undertaking work with GCCG to support the monitoring the implementation of their Strategic Plan. Examples of previous benefits from the use of NHS Digital Portal system have included: • The PHI team had delivered a Public Health Monitoring Programme to GP practices and syndicates as requested by the CCG. As part of this, Greenwich practices were provided with assessments including information about rates of A&E attendance and emergency admissions, identifying where practices were above or below local and the England averages. These were explored with GP practices, identifying issues they were aware of which might contribute to greater levels of secondary attendance or reasons /initiatives for which they felt that levels of secondary attendance by their patients was lower, especially where they were outperforming practices in areas which were felt to be similarly deprived. • An investigation was carried out to identify if enhanced social care provision (pilot project) led to reductions in hospital attendance (A&E, hospital admissions) and reduction in cost of overall health and social care spending in the borough. The pilot study suggested that the model put in place had not reduced these costs, and it was decided not to introduce the scheme borough-wide. • An investigation was carried out, examining patterns of liver disease in Greenwich. Concerns had been raised as certain liver disease indicators suggested unusual patterns in Greenwich. Historical rates of alcohol-specific hospital episodes were examined, comparing Greenwich to London and England, and this identified that these trends were similar in Greenwich to elsewhere. A demographic breakdown of rates of alcohol-specific hospital episodes was also carried out, comparing Greenwich and London, which demonstrated that Greenwich had 'normal' patterns of alcohol-related hospital episodes. The new evidence provided the important insight that patterns of alcohol-related service use in Greenwich are typical of a London Borough. This was not previously known. It was felt that the liver disease indicators were evidence of volatility rather than a longer term trend.

Benefits reported

[1 paragraph unchanged] Access and analysis of hospital activity data (via HDIS) was limited during 2017 as there was reduced analytical capacity in the PHWB department in RB Greenwich as the result of a departmental reorganisation, and additionally PH analysts were unable to access HDIS until October 2017. Analytical capacity has increased in 2018, but in some cases previous anticipated benefits have been deferred to 2019-20. Our yielded benefits until the end of 2018-19 include: Due to the change from HDIS to DAE during 2019-20, and the complications that arose, data access and analysis has been limited. Examples of analyses that have been completed include: 1) The team investigated the high number of hospital admissions as a result of mental and behavioural disorders due to substance misuse (SM), as identified by PHE, and have been undertaking work with the RBG SM commissioning team and other local partners seeking to understand reasons for this, to ensure clients are being successfully referred to SM treatment services, and that MH crises in this client group are avoided. Results have shown that there is an ongoing local issue associated with two mental health trusts and have provided several reports and advice on this continuing issue. Initially to the SM commissioning team, and further meetings have been held with Oxleas NHS Trust and GCCG to explore this further and identify steps required to improve the health of this client group and reduce admissions to hospital. A number of possibilities are being considered for the scale of reported admissions including coding patterns, a cohort of people misusing drugs unknown to SM services, lack of knowledge about referral pathways to SM services, and any lack of access to MH services in the community which might be leading to ‘self-medication’. This has generated a lot of interest and resulted in an audit of cases undertaken by Oxleas NHS Trust as well as a review of their patient pathways. Following presentations to GCCG and to Greenwich GPs at a protected learning event, GCCG are using the results to inform the redesign of their SM acute hospital service (moving this to a community based service aimed at preventing admissions to hospital). The information has also fed into work looking more generally at MH admissions (which has led to additional audits being developed) and a recent CAMHS Health Equity Audit. - Rates of emergency admissions of children at ward and children's centre areas areas were provided for the children's centre datapacks (refresh). These packs are provided to children's centres in London Borough of Greenwich (also known as Royal Borough of Greenwich) to inform them of health and well-being issues within their patch and the wider borough, and to support them in choosing priorities to focus on. 2) The team have undertaken a health equity audit examining prevalence of mental illness amongst young people in Greenwich, variation in diagnoses, and use of CAMHS services following a recent update of national survey results. The audit has considered variation by sex, ethnicity, area of residence and deprivation and included the use of Hospital data as well as CAMHS specific information. The audit has considered whether there are any barriers to accessing CAMHS – identifying apparently low referrals to CAMHS of, for example, black boys, followed by greater levels than expected of admissions of young black men to adult mental health services. There has been engagement with RBG children’s services and Oxleas NHS Trust to understand more fully any reasons for variation, and to investigate whether there is a hidden cohort of Black and Minority Ethnic children with MH issues who are being identified at a later stage in adulthood. These results have also been presented and explored in the Greenwich MH Commissioning Forum in October 2018 and are being used to inform the CAMHS recommissioning process which began at this time. - emergency admissions and elective admissions by IMD quintile, comparing least and most affluent quintiles in Greenwich. Results provided to Greenwich CCG to help the CCG focus on how they best deliver improved health outcomes. 3) The PH Outcomes Framework produced by PHE had indicated that both admissions to hospital as a result of falls and admissions with hip fractures had increased. The Team examined this in more detail and demonstrated that these remained high. As a result GCCG are re-investing in falls prevention. This report has helped focus where new services should be targeted. These indicators will continue to be monitored and have now been added to the PH report which is presented to the RBG Health Services and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel. The issue was highlighted in the 2017/18 APHR and this further analysis will be included in the APHR 2018/19 to ensure that it remains a focus for the Borough. - Number of admissions of children and young people due to substance misuse, looking at trends, and whether any particular substances are highlighted (primary diagnosis). For use in JSNA. 4) Reviews of PHE indicators have shown that we have high levels of attendance at A&E by children and young people as well as high levels of admissions to hospital, particularly from respiratory, gastric and dental conditions. This has been raised as a concern in the APHR 2017/18. These areas are being further explored and statistical reports have been presented to the RBG Children and Young Peoples Plan Implementation group and GCCG, and have subsequently been included in an implementation plan for improvements to young people’s health for 2018-2021 signed off at the children’s services strategic partnership at the end of 2018. Indicators have also been added to the PH report to the RBG Health Services and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel. It is intended that a section will be included in the JSNA as an area of concern and for review. - The rate of diabetes admissions at MSOA level. This was provided, along with other relevant data, to assist the Greenwich traffic planning teams with a project aiming to increase physical activity, and improve air quality through the creation of low traffic neighbourhoods. 5) The SE London STP had proposed piloting a new obesity management service across the STP area. However GCCG wanted to identify if admissions in Greenwich were decreasing as anticipated as a result of a package of service provision (bariatrics tier 3 service) they had already implemented in Greenwich. The Team provided a report to GCCG which confirmed that Greenwich appeared to be doing well in comparison with other SE London boroughs with a decrease in admissions. As a result GCCG decided not to join the SEL pilot at that time. - Maternity admissions. Number and rate of admissions (in a 5 year period) due to deliveries, miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, etc. For Greenwich maternity review and the JSNA to provide context, identify areas of need and change, and any challenges to inform commissioning process and priorities for the next period. 6) The Team profiled admissions to hospital and A&E attendance by residents in Greenwich West ward. The data was used (in addition to other sources) to inform a profile of need for the Greenwich West Area to determine priorities for spend for Section 106 funding. The profile of admissions indicated that the rate of admissions in people aged 65 and above was increasing, with a particular issue in respiratory illness, Injuries (predominantly falls) and UTI’s. Officers from PH, Occupational Therapy and GCCG commissioners subsequently met with the local GP surgery to gain local insight on the data. In light of this, they have developed a scheme that will benefit residents and supports implementation of the RGB Corporate Plan, and GCCG commissioning strategies which focuses on frailty. The proposal is a scaled down version of the West London “My Care, My Way” scheme which is demonstrating very positive outcomes. We are currently proposing that this money is used to undertake a test and learn scheme for Greenwich. 7) In summer 2018 the PH team refreshed a profile of indicators relating to food poverty in Greenwich sitting under the Food Poverty Strategy. In light of press reports of malnutrition elsewhere, it was investigated whether there were any admissions of Greenwich residents with this diagnosis, and if so, how Greenwich compared and whether any groups in our population were especially affected. The results showed there were few admissions of Greenwich residents where this was identified as a diagnosis, and this had generally not changed in recent periods. Further analysis would be required once additional data because of the small numbers involved. This is to be revisited in summer 2019. 7) As part of a needs assessment of children with disabilities and special educational needs, the potential size of the population with these needs was modelled. It was planned that this would be based in part on recent trends in the number of low birth weight and pre-term births which are known to be factors associated with disabilities and SEN. The SEN needs assessment was completed in January and will be signed off in Feb 2019 by the RB Greenwich strategic SEND group, and is helping to inform data collection for recommissioning of universal children’s services in Greenwich. 8) The RBG Children and Young Peoples Scrutiny Panel requested details of admissions to hospital with a diagnosis of diabetes in autumn of 2018 to examine prevalence childhood obesity and diabetes in Greenwich and exploring linkage between these areas of concern. This was to further inform their activities related to healthy eating and the role of the environment in influencing people’s food and physical activity choices. A subsequent motion was tabled aimed at reducing sugar intake through improved vending in Greenwich. 9) The team have continued to monitor the level of hospital admissions and mortality related to the misuse of alcohol against targets in the Alcohol Strategy 2016-2020. The harmful drinking section of the JSNA will be updated in 2019-20 to contribute to the next borough strategy and action plan. Information on harmful drinking also supports the local authority to fulfil their statutory function in providing PH input to related licensing applications. 10) Previous analyses of respiratory admissions identified that there were high numbers of cases due to asthma. This led to the funding of a pilot asthma nursing service by GCC in 2017/18 as a potential means to improve management of this condition. RBG and their health partners on the PHWB board will want to examine what impact if any this has yet had an impact in improving the health of this group and reducing admissions from this cause and HES analyses allow us to look at the most up to date in-year information and this will be revisited in 2019-20.

Unchanged: Objective for processing, Expected output.

Objective for processing

The Health Episode Statistics (HES) Data accessed through the NHS Digital Portal will be used by the Local Authorities in fulfilment of its public health function, specifically to support and improve:

1. the local responsiveness, targeting and value for money of commissioned public health services;

2. the statutory ‘core offer’ public health advice and support provided to local NHS commissioners;

3. the local specificity and relevance of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and Health and Wellbeing Strategies produced in collaboration with NHS and voluntary sector partners on the Health and Wellbeing Board;

4. the local focus, responsiveness and timeliness of health impact assessments; and, among other benefits

5. the capability of the local public health intelligence service to undertake comparative longitudinal analyses of patterns of and variations in:

a) the incidence and prevalence of disease and risks to public health;

b) demand for and access to treatment and preventative care services;

c) variations in health outcomes between groups in the population;

d) the level of integration between local health and care services; and

e) the local associations between causal risk factors and health status and outcomes.

The main statutory duties and wider public health responsibilities supporting these processing objectives are as follows:

1. Statutory public health duties that the data will be used to support

a) Duty to improve public health: Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the Local Authority under Section 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to take appropriate steps to improve the health of the population, for example by providing information and advice, services and facilities, and incentives and assistance to encourage and enable people to lead healthier lives;

b) Duty to support Health and Wellbeing Boards: Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the Local Authority and the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)-led Health and Wellbeing Board under Section 194 of the 2012 Act to improve health and wellbeing, reduce health inequalities, and promote the integration of health and care services; the data will also be used to support the statutory duty of Health and Wellbeing Boards under Section 206 of the 2012 Act to undertake Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments;

c) Duty to produce Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs) and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies (JHWBs): Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the Local Authority under Sections 192 and 193 of the 2012 Act to consult on and publish JSNAs and JHWSs that assess the current and future health and wellbeing needs of the local population;

d) Duty to commission specific public health services: Analyses of the data will be used to support the Local Authority to discharge its duty under the Local Authorities Regulations 2013 to plan and provide NHS Health Check assessments, the National Child Measurement Programme, and open access sexual health services;

e) Duty to provide public health advice to NHS commissioners: Analyses of the data will be used by Local Authorities to discharge its duty under the 2013 Regulations to provide a public health advice service to NHS commissioners;

f) Duty to publish an annual public health report: Analyses of the data will be used by Directors of Public Health to support their duty to prepare and publish an annual report on the health of the local population under Section 31 the 2012 Act;

g) Public Health responses on behalf of the Local Authority to licensing applications and other statutory Local Authority functions requiring public health input: Analyses of the data will be used by the Director of Public Health to support their duty under Part 3 of the National Health Services Act 2006 (as amended by Section 30 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012) to provide the Local Authority’s public health response (as the responsible authority under the Licensing Act 2003, as amended by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 Schedule 5 – Part 1) to licensing applications.

2. Wider public health responsibilities supported by analysis of the data

a) Health impact assessments and equity audits: Analyses of the data will be used to assess the potential impacts on health and the wider social economic and environmental determinants of health of Local Authority strategic plans, policies and services;

b) Local health profiles: Analyses of the data will be used to support the production of locally-commissioned health profiles to improve understand of the health priorities of local areas and guide strategic commissioning plans by focusing, for example, on:

i. bespoke local geographies (based on the non-standard aggregation of LSOAs);

ii. specific demographic, geographic, ethnic and socio-economic groups in the population;

iii. inequalities in health status, access to treatment and treatment outcomes;

c) Surveillance of trends in health status and health outcomes: Analyses of the data will be used for the longitudinal monitoring of trends in the incidence, prevalence, treatment and outcomes for a wide range of diseases and other risks to public health;

d) Responsive and timely local health intelligence service: Analyses of the data will be used to respond to ad hoc internal and external requests for information and intelligence on the health status and outcomes of the local population generated and received by the Director of Public Health and their team.

These lists of the statutory duties and wider public health responsibilities of the Local Authority are not exhaustive but set the broad parameters for how the data will be used by the Local Authority to help improve and protect public health, and reduce health inequalities. All such use would be in fulfilment of the public health function of the Local Authority.

No sensitive data can be accessed through the NHS Digital Portal. The data provided would include, the standard non-sensitive HES fields, and a common (across all Local Authorities) pseudoHESID to enable admissions to be linked over time.

Expected output

The results of the analyses of the data will be used by the Local Authority to support the discharge of its statutory duties in relation to public health, and wider public health responsibilities. Outputs will include (but not be limited to) the routine and ad hoc production of:

a) Joint Strategic Needs Assessments;

b) Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies;

c) the annual report of the Director of Public Health;

d) reports commissioned by the Health and Wellbeing Board;

e) public health and wider Local Authority health and wellbeing commissioning strategies and plans;

f) public health advice to NHS commissioners;

g) responses to licensing applications and other statutory Local Authority functions requiring public health input;

h) local health profiles;

i) health impact assessments and equity audits; and, among other outputs

j) responses to internal and external requests for information and intelligence on the health and wellbeing of the population.

The specific content of and target dates for these outputs will be for the Local Authority to determine, although it is required to comply with national guidance published by the Department of Health, Public Health England and others as appropriate, for example, on the timetable for publishing refreshed JSNAs.

All outputs shared outside of the Public Health Team will be of aggregated data with small numbers suppressed in line with the HES Analysis Guide.

Benefits reported

The overall benefit is that results of analyses are used by the Local Authority to support the discharge of its statutory duties in relation to public health, and wider public health responsibilities, by producing routine and ad-hoc outputs such as the Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and other reports and strategies as listed on the previous section. Access to the data has allowed the Local Authority to undertake locally-focused and locally-responsive analyses of health status and health outcomes, which include analyses of health inequalities to help ensure that the health challenges facing the local population and communities are identified and responded to appropriately by the Local Authority and its partners.

Due to the change from HDIS to DAE during 2019-20, and the complications that arose, data access and analysis has been limited. Examples of analyses that have been completed include:

- Rates of emergency admissions of children at ward and children's centre areas areas were provided for the children's centre datapacks (refresh). These packs are provided to children's centres in London Borough of Greenwich (also known as Royal Borough of Greenwich) to inform them of health and well-being issues within their patch and the wider borough, and to support them in choosing priorities to focus on.

- emergency admissions and elective admissions by IMD quintile, comparing least and most affluent quintiles in Greenwich. Results provided to Greenwich CCG to help the CCG focus on how they best deliver improved health outcomes.

- Number of admissions of children and young people due to substance misuse, looking at trends, and whether any particular substances are highlighted (primary diagnosis). For use in JSNA.

- The rate of diabetes admissions at MSOA level. This was provided, along with other relevant data, to assist the Greenwich traffic planning teams with a project aiming to increase physical activity, and improve air quality through the creation of low traffic neighbourhoods.

- Maternity admissions. Number and rate of admissions (in a 5 year period) due to deliveries, miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, etc. For Greenwich maternity review and the JSNA to provide context, identify areas of need and change, and any challenges to inform commissioning process and priorities for the next period.

DARS-NIC-10929-K8H5K-v3.2 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020
Title
LAPH NHS Digital Portal Access
Commercial
No
Sublicensing
No
Datasets
4
Files released
0

Datasets: Hospital Episode Statistics Accident and Emergency (HES A and E); Hospital Episode Statistics Admitted Patient Care (HES APC); Hospital Episode Statistics Critical Care (HES Critical Care); Hospital Episode Statistics Outpatients (HES OP)

Objective for processing

The Health Episode Statistics (HES) Data accessed through the NHS Digital Portal will be used by the Local Authorities in fulfilment of its public health function, specifically to support and improve:

1. the local responsiveness, targeting and value for money of commissioned public health services;

2. the statutory ‘core offer’ public health advice and support provided to local NHS commissioners;

3. the local specificity and relevance of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and Health and Wellbeing Strategies produced in collaboration with NHS and voluntary sector partners on the Health and Wellbeing Board;

4. the local focus, responsiveness and timeliness of health impact assessments; and, among other benefits

5. the capability of the local public health intelligence service to undertake comparative longitudinal analyses of patterns of and variations in:

a) the incidence and prevalence of disease and risks to public health;

b) demand for and access to treatment and preventative care services;

c) variations in health outcomes between groups in the population;

d) the level of integration between local health and care services; and

e) the local associations between causal risk factors and health status and outcomes.

The main statutory duties and wider public health responsibilities supporting these processing objectives are as follows:

1. Statutory public health duties that the data will be used to support

a) Duty to improve public health: Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the Local Authority under Section 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to take appropriate steps to improve the health of the population, for example by providing information and advice, services and facilities, and incentives and assistance to encourage and enable people to lead healthier lives;

b) Duty to support Health and Wellbeing Boards: Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the Local Authority and the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)-led Health and Wellbeing Board under Section 194 of the 2012 Act to improve health and wellbeing, reduce health inequalities, and promote the integration of health and care services; the data will also be used to support the statutory duty of Health and Wellbeing Boards under Section 206 of the 2012 Act to undertake Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments;

c) Duty to produce Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs) and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies (JHWBs): Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the Local Authority under Sections 192 and 193 of the 2012 Act to consult on and publish JSNAs and JHWSs that assess the current and future health and wellbeing needs of the local population;

d) Duty to commission specific public health services: Analyses of the data will be used to support the Local Authority to discharge its duty under the Local Authorities Regulations 2013 to plan and provide NHS Health Check assessments, the National Child Measurement Programme, and open access sexual health services;

e) Duty to provide public health advice to NHS commissioners: Analyses of the data will be used by Local Authorities to discharge its duty under the 2013 Regulations to provide a public health advice service to NHS commissioners;

f) Duty to publish an annual public health report: Analyses of the data will be used by Directors of Public Health to support their duty to prepare and publish an annual report on the health of the local population under Section 31 the 2012 Act;

g) Public Health responses on behalf of the Local Authority to licensing applications and other statutory Local Authority functions requiring public health input: Analyses of the data will be used by the Director of Public Health to support their duty under Part 3 of the National Health Services Act 2006 (as amended by Section 30 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012) to provide the Local Authority’s public health response (as the responsible authority under the Licensing Act 2003, as amended by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 Schedule 5 – Part 1) to licensing applications.

2. Wider public health responsibilities supported by analysis of the data

a) Health impact assessments and equity audits: Analyses of the data will be used to assess the potential impacts on health and the wider social economic and environmental determinants of health of Local Authority strategic plans, policies and services;

b) Local health profiles: Analyses of the data will be used to support the production of locally-commissioned health profiles to improve understand of the health priorities of local areas and guide strategic commissioning plans by focusing, for example, on:

i. bespoke local geographies (based on the non-standard aggregation of LSOAs);

ii. specific demographic, geographic, ethnic and socio-economic groups in the population;

iii. inequalities in health status, access to treatment and treatment outcomes;

c) Surveillance of trends in health status and health outcomes: Analyses of the data will be used for the longitudinal monitoring of trends in the incidence, prevalence, treatment and outcomes for a wide range of diseases and other risks to public health;

d) Responsive and timely local health intelligence service: Analyses of the data will be used to respond to ad hoc internal and external requests for information and intelligence on the health status and outcomes of the local population generated and received by the Director of Public Health and their team.

These lists of the statutory duties and wider public health responsibilities of the Local Authority are not exhaustive but set the broad parameters for how the data will be used by the Local Authority to help improve and protect public health, and reduce health inequalities. All such use would be in fulfilment of the public health function of the Local Authority.

No sensitive data can be accessed through the NHS Digital Portal. The data provided would include, the standard non-sensitive HES fields, and a common (across all Local Authorities) pseudoHESID to enable admissions to be linked over time.

Expected output

The results of the analyses of the data will be used by the Local Authority to support the discharge of its statutory duties in relation to public health, and wider public health responsibilities. Outputs will include (but not be limited to) the routine and ad hoc production of:

a) Joint Strategic Needs Assessments;

b) Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies;

c) the annual report of the Director of Public Health;

d) reports commissioned by the Health and Wellbeing Board;

e) public health and wider Local Authority health and wellbeing commissioning strategies and plans;

f) public health advice to NHS commissioners;

g) responses to licensing applications and other statutory Local Authority functions requiring public health input;

h) local health profiles;

i) health impact assessments and equity audits; and, among other outputs

j) responses to internal and external requests for information and intelligence on the health and wellbeing of the population.

The specific content of and target dates for these outputs will be for the Local Authority to determine, although it is required to comply with national guidance published by the Department of Health, Public Health England and others as appropriate, for example, on the timetable for publishing refreshed JSNAs.

All outputs shared outside of the Public Health Team will be of aggregated data with small numbers suppressed in line with the HES Analysis Guide.

Benefits reported

The overall benefit is that results of analyses are used by the Local Authority to support the discharge of its statutory duties in relation to public health, and wider public health responsibilities, by producing routine and ad-hoc outputs such as the Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and other reports and strategies as listed on the previous section. Access to the data has allowed the Local Authority to undertake locally-focused and locally-responsive analyses of health status and health outcomes, which include analyses of health inequalities to help ensure that the health challenges facing the local population and communities are identified and responded to appropriately by the Local Authority and its partners.

Access and analysis of hospital activity data (via HDIS) was limited during 2017 as there was reduced analytical capacity in the PHWB department in RB Greenwich as the result of a departmental reorganisation, and additionally PH analysts were unable to access HDIS until October 2017. Analytical capacity has increased in 2018, but in some cases previous anticipated benefits have been deferred to 2019-20. Our yielded benefits until the end of 2018-19 include:

1) The team investigated the high number of hospital admissions as a result of mental and behavioural disorders due to substance misuse (SM), as identified by PHE, and have been undertaking work with the RBG SM commissioning team and other local partners seeking to understand reasons for this, to ensure clients are being successfully referred to SM treatment services, and that MH crises in this client group are avoided. Results have shown that there is an ongoing local issue associated with two mental health trusts and have provided several reports and advice on this continuing issue. Initially to the SM commissioning team, and further meetings have been held with Oxleas NHS Trust and GCCG to explore this further and identify steps required to improve the health of this client group and reduce admissions to hospital. A number of possibilities are being considered for the scale of reported admissions including coding patterns, a cohort of people misusing drugs unknown to SM services, lack of knowledge about referral pathways to SM services, and any lack of access to MH services in the community which might be leading to ‘self-medication’. This has generated a lot of interest and resulted in an audit of cases undertaken by Oxleas NHS Trust as well as a review of their patient pathways. Following presentations to GCCG and to Greenwich GPs at a protected learning event, GCCG are using the results to inform the redesign of their SM acute hospital service (moving this to a community based service aimed at preventing admissions to hospital). The information has also fed into work looking more generally at MH admissions (which has led to additional audits being developed) and a recent CAMHS Health Equity Audit.

2) The team have undertaken a health equity audit examining prevalence of mental illness amongst young people in Greenwich, variation in diagnoses, and use of CAMHS services following a recent update of national survey results. The audit has considered variation by sex, ethnicity, area of residence and deprivation and included the use of Hospital data as well as CAMHS specific information. The audit has considered whether there are any barriers to accessing CAMHS – identifying apparently low referrals to CAMHS of, for example, black boys, followed by greater levels than expected of admissions of young black men to adult mental health services. There has been engagement with RBG children’s services and Oxleas NHS Trust to understand more fully any reasons for variation, and to investigate whether there is a hidden cohort of Black and Minority Ethnic children with MH issues who are being identified at a later stage in adulthood. These results have also been presented and explored in the Greenwich MH Commissioning Forum in October 2018 and are being used to inform the CAMHS recommissioning process which began at this time.

3) The PH Outcomes Framework produced by PHE had indicated that both admissions to hospital as a result of falls and admissions with hip fractures had increased. The Team examined this in more detail and demonstrated that these remained high. As a result GCCG are re-investing in falls prevention. This report has helped focus where new services should be targeted. These indicators will continue to be monitored and have now been added to the PH report which is presented to the RBG Health Services and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel. The issue was highlighted in the 2017/18 APHR and this further analysis will be included in the APHR 2018/19 to ensure that it remains a focus for the Borough.

4) Reviews of PHE indicators have shown that we have high levels of attendance at A&E by children and young people as well as high levels of admissions to hospital, particularly from respiratory, gastric and dental conditions. This has been raised as a concern in the APHR 2017/18. These areas are being further explored and statistical reports have been presented to the RBG Children and Young Peoples Plan Implementation group and GCCG, and have subsequently been included in an implementation plan for improvements to young people’s health for 2018-2021 signed off at the children’s services strategic partnership at the end of 2018. Indicators have also been added to the PH report to the RBG Health Services and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel. It is intended that a section will be included in the JSNA as an area of concern and for review.

5) The SE London STP had proposed piloting a new obesity management service across the STP area. However GCCG wanted to identify if admissions in Greenwich were decreasing as anticipated as a result of a package of service provision (bariatrics tier 3 service) they had already implemented in Greenwich. The Team provided a report to GCCG which confirmed that Greenwich appeared to be doing well in comparison with other SE London boroughs with a decrease in admissions. As a result GCCG decided not to join the SEL pilot at that time.

6) The Team profiled admissions to hospital and A&E attendance by residents in Greenwich West ward. The data was used (in addition to other sources) to inform a profile of need for the Greenwich West Area to determine priorities for spend for Section 106 funding. The profile of admissions indicated that the rate of admissions in people aged 65 and above was increasing, with a particular issue in respiratory illness, Injuries (predominantly falls) and UTI’s. Officers from PH, Occupational Therapy and GCCG commissioners subsequently met with the local GP surgery to gain local insight on the data. In light of this, they have developed a scheme that will benefit residents and supports implementation of the RGB Corporate Plan, and GCCG commissioning strategies which focuses on frailty. The proposal is a scaled down version of the West London “My Care, My Way” scheme which is demonstrating very positive outcomes. We are currently proposing that this money is used to undertake a test and learn scheme for Greenwich.

7) In summer 2018 the PH team refreshed a profile of indicators relating to food poverty in Greenwich sitting under the Food Poverty Strategy. In light of press reports of malnutrition elsewhere, it was investigated whether there were any admissions of Greenwich residents with this diagnosis, and if so, how Greenwich compared and whether any groups in our population were especially affected. The results showed there were few admissions of Greenwich residents where this was identified as a diagnosis, and this had generally not changed in recent periods. Further analysis would be required once additional data because of the small numbers involved. This is to be revisited in summer 2019.

7) As part of a needs assessment of children with disabilities and special educational needs, the potential size of the population with these needs was modelled. It was planned that this would be based in part on recent trends in the number of low birth weight and pre-term births which are known to be factors associated with disabilities and SEN. The SEN needs assessment was completed in January and will be signed off in Feb 2019 by the RB Greenwich strategic SEND group, and is helping to inform data collection for recommissioning of universal children’s services in Greenwich.

8) The RBG Children and Young Peoples Scrutiny Panel requested details of admissions to hospital with a diagnosis of diabetes in autumn of 2018 to examine prevalence childhood obesity and diabetes in Greenwich and exploring linkage between these areas of concern. This was to further inform their activities related to healthy eating and the role of the environment in influencing people’s food and physical activity choices. A subsequent motion was tabled aimed at reducing sugar intake through improved vending in Greenwich.

9) The team have continued to monitor the level of hospital admissions and mortality related to the misuse of alcohol against targets in the Alcohol Strategy 2016-2020. The harmful drinking section of the JSNA will be updated in 2019-20 to contribute to the next borough strategy and action plan. Information on harmful drinking also supports the local authority to fulfil their statutory function in providing PH input to related licensing applications.

10) Previous analyses of respiratory admissions identified that there were high numbers of cases due to asthma. This led to the funding of a pilot asthma nursing service by GCC in 2017/18 as a potential means to improve management of this condition. RBG and their health partners on the PHWB board will want to examine what impact if any this has yet had an impact in improving the health of this group and reducing admissions from this cause and HES analyses allow us to look at the most up to date in-year information and this will be revisited in 2019-20.

Register history

When this agreement appeared in, or was edited in, each monthly edition of the register. Built by comparing every edition this site holds, the earliest of which is July 2021.

Cite this page

NHS England (2026) Data Uses Register, September 2026 edition, agreement DARS-NIC-10929-K8H5K, “LAPH HES via NHS England’s Secure Environment”. Read via NHS Data Access Explorer (unofficial), https://healthdatauses.uk/agreements/dars-nic-10929-k8h5k/ (accessed [date]).

This address stays the same, but the page is rebuilt with each monthly edition, so the citation names the edition it shows. Every edition's data is kept in the facts store.

Source: datausesregister_september2026.xlsx, September 2026 edition of the NHS England Data Uses Register. Search that workbook for DARS-NIC-10929-K8H5K to see the original rows.