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DSfC - NHS Halton CCG & NHS Warrington CCG - Comm

NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB · Sub ICB Location

Listed under NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board.

Expired The latest version ended on 17 November 2024. The September 2026 register still lists the agreement, but its term has passed.

Reference
DARS-NIC-423551-K2C4H
Latest version
v1.3
Term of latest version
18 November 2021 to 17 November 2024
Start date
17 December 2020
Data controller
Joint Data Controller
Commercial purposes
No
Sublicensing
No
Files released to date
0

Data controllers

Why the data was released

Objective for processing

COMMISSIONING

To use pseudonymised data to provide intelligence to support the commissioning of health services. The data (containing both clinical and financial information) is analysed so that health care provision can be planned to support the needs of the population within the CCG area.

The CCGs commission services from a range of providers covering a wide array of services. Each of the data flow categories requested supports the commissioned activity of one or more providers.

The following pseudonymised datasets are required to provide intelligence to support commissioning of health services:

- Secondary Uses Service (SUS+)

- Local Provider Flows

o Acute

o Ambulance

o Community

o Demand for Service

o Diagnostic Service

o Emergency Care

o Experience, Quality and Outcomes

o Mental Health

o Other Not Elsewhere Classified

o Population Data

o Primary Care Services

o Public Health Screening

- Mental Health Minimum Data Set (MHMDS)

- Mental Health Learning Disability Data Set (MHLDDS)

- Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS)

- Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS)

- Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT)

- Child and Young People Health Service (CYPHS)

- Community Services Data Set (CSDS)

- Diagnostic Imaging Data Set (DIDS)

- National Cancer Waiting Times Monitoring Data Set (CWT)

- Civil Registries Data (CRD) (Births)

- Civil Registries Data (CRD) (Deaths)

- National Diabetes Audit (NDA)

- Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs)

- e-Referral Service (eRS)

- Personal Demographics Service (PDS)

- Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator (SHMI)

- Medicines Dispensed in Primary Care (NHSBSA Data)

- Adult Social Care Data

Processing of the Medicines Dispensed in Primary Care (NHSBSA Data) dataset is only permitted to provide intelligence about the safety and effectiveness of medicines, as specified by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) Medicines Data Directions 2019.

The pseudonymised data is required to for the following purposes:

 Population health management:

• Understanding the interdependency of care services

• Targeting care more effectively

 Data Quality and Validation – allowing data quality checks on the submitted data

 Thoroughly investigating the needs of the population, to ensure the right services are available for individuals when and where they need them

 Understanding cohorts of residents who are at risk of becoming users of some of the more expensive services, to better understand and manage those needs

 Monitoring population health and care interactions to understand where people may slip through the net, or where the provision of care may be being duplicated

 Modelling activity across all data sets to understand how services interact with each other, and to understand how changes in one service may affect flows through another

 Service redesign

 Health Needs Assessment – identification of underlying disease prevalence within the local population

 Patient stratification and predictive modelling - to highlight cohorts of patients at risk of requiring hospital admission and other avoidable factors such as risk of falls, computed using algorithms executed against linked de-identified data, and identification of future service delivery models

 Demand Management - to improve the care service for patients by predicting the impact on certain care pathways and support the secondary care system in ensuring enough capacity to manage the demand.

 Support measuring the health, mortality or care needs of the total local population

 Provide intelligence about the safety and effectiveness of medicines.

 Allow analysis of patient pathways across healthcare and social care

The pseudonymised data is required to ensure that analysis of health care provision can be completed to support the needs of the health profile of the population within the CCG area based on the full analysis of multiple pseudonymised datasets.

Processing for commissioning will be conducted by Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit.

Processing activities

Data must only be used for the purposes stipulated within this Data Sharing Agreement. Any additional disclosure / publication will require further approval from NHS Digital.

Data Processors must only act upon specific instructions from the Data Controller.

Data can only be stored at the addresses listed under storage addresses.

All access to data is managed under Role-Based Access Controls. Users can only access data authorised by their role and the tasks that they are required to undertake.

Patient level data will not be linked other than as specifically detailed within this Data Sharing Agreement. Data released will only be shared with those parties listed and will only be used for the purposes laid out in the application/agreement.

NHS Digital reminds all organisations party to this agreement of the need to comply with the Data Sharing Framework Contract requirements, including those regarding the use (and purposes of that use) by “Personnel” (as defined within the Data Sharing Framework Contract ie: employees, agents and contractors of the Data Recipient who may have access to that data)

The DSCRO (part of NHS Digital) will apply National Opt-outs before any identifiable data leaves the DSCRO only for the purpose of Risk Stratification.

CCGs should work with general practices within their CCG to help them fulfil data controller responsibilities regarding flow of identifiable data into risk stratification tools.

The identifier available in the data set is the NHS numbers. Any further identification of the patients will only be completed by the patient’s clinician on their own systems for the purpose of direct care with a legitimate relationship.

ONWARD SHARING:

There is no requirement for the analytical teams to re-identify patients, but in the development of cohorts of patients considered to be at risk, the data controllers may need the facility to provide identifiable results back to direct healthcare professionals or local authority direct care staff only for the purpose of direct care. All re-id requests will be processed and authorised by the DSCRO on a case by case basis. National data opt outs are not applied in these cases as they are for the purposes of direct care which follows the legal basis of implied consent.

An example of a request for the re-id of patients for direct care may be;

A&E High Attendance usage

The CCG can filter data to show for example the number of A&E attendances in a given period for each patient. The CCG can then flag to the relevant GP of the patient any patients that require intervention. An outcome of this is earlier intervention in the patient(s) care thus potentially reducing future costs and minimising future risk.

Polypharmacy re-IDs

CCG's can request re-ID of a list of patients to be sent to the relevant GP with a high number of medications (ingredient count) and review the medication for these patients. This can help address the risk of polypharmacy which is recognised as an adverse risk factor for patient safety. A by-product of such reviews may be to reduce costs of medication.

The Re-identification process for direct care is as follows:

1. The CCG identifies a patient cohort (typically small numbers) to be re-identified for the purpose of direct care.

2. The CCG sends a re-id request to the DSCRO. This may be done through the CCG or CSU’s Business Intelligence (BI) Tool, or through a manual form.

3. The DSCRO (either through an automated system or manual checking in line with the request) assesses as to whether the request passes the specified re-identification process checks. Checks include if the requester is authorised to access identifiable data, if the number of patients in the cohort is appropriate, and that the request does not seem inappropriate or outside of expected parameters, including for example around timings and the requestor’s relationship with patients in the data

4. If successful/approved, the DSCRO re-identifies the relevant data item(s) for the appropriate patients and returns the identifiable fields to Health or care professional(s) with a legitimate relationship to the patient. The CCG does not see the identifiable record.

5. DSCROs retain an audit trail of all re-id requests

6. National Data opt outs are not applied for the purpose of direct care

Aggregated reports only with small number suppression can be shared externally as set out within NHS Digital guidance applicable to each data set.

SEGREGATION:

Where the Data Processor and/or the Data Controller hold both identifiable and pseudonymised data, the data will be held separately so data cannot be linked.

Where the Data Processor and/or the Data Controller hold identifiable data with opt outs applied and identifiable data with opt outs not applied, the data will be held separately so data cannot be linked.

All access to data is auditable by NHS Digital.

Data for the purpose of Invoice Validation is kept within the CEfF, and only used by staff properly trained and authorised for the activity. Only CEfF staff are able to access data in the CEfF and only CEfF staff operate the invoice validation process within the CEfF. Data flows directly in to the CEfF from the DSCRO and from the providers – it does not flow through any other processors.

DATA MINIMISATION:

Data Minimisation in relation to the data sets listed within the application are listed below. This also includes the purpose on which they would be applied -

For the purpose of Commissioning:

• Patients who are normally registered and/or resident within the NHS Halton CCG and NHS Warrington CCG region (including historical activity where the patient was previously registered or resident in another commissioner).

and/or

• Patients treated by a provider where NHS Halton CCG and NHS Warrington CCG is the host/co-ordinating commissioner and/or has the primary responsibility for the provider services in the local health economy – this is only for commissioning and relates to both national and local flows.

and/or

• Activity identified by the provider and recorded as such within national systems (such as SUS+) as for the attention of NHS Halton CCG and NHS Warrington CCG - this is only for commissioning and relates to both national and local flows.

Microsoft Limited provide Cloud Services for Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit and are therefore listed as a data processor. They supply support to the system, but do not access data. Therefore, any access to the data held under this agreement would be considered a breach of the agreement. This includes granting of access to the database[s] containing the data.

Lima Networks Ltd and St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals NHS Trust supply IT infrastructure and are therefore listed as a data processor. They supply support to the system, but do not access data. Therefore, any access to the data held under this agreement would be considered a breach of the agreement. This includes granting of access to the database[s] containing the data.

COMMISSIONING

The Data Services for Commissioners Regional Office (DSCRO) obtains the following data sets:

1. SUS+

2. Local Provider Flows (received directly from providers)

a. Acute

b. Ambulance

c. Community

d. Demand for Service

e. Diagnostic Service

f. Emergency Care

g. Experience, Quality and Outcomes

h. Mental Health

i. Other Not Elsewhere Classified

j. Population Data

k. Primary Care Services

l. Public Health Screening

3. Mental Health Minimum Data Set (MHMDS)

4. Mental Health Learning Disability Data Set (MHLDDS)

5. Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS)

6. Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS)

7. Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT)

8. Child and Young People Health Service (CYPHS)

9. Community Services Data Set (CSDS)

10. Diagnostic Imaging Data Set (DIDS)

11. National Cancer Waiting Times Monitoring Data Set (CWT)

12. Civil Registries Data (CRD) (Births)

13. Civil Registries Data (CRD) (Deaths)

14. National Diabetes Audit (NDA)

15. Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs)

16. e-Referral Service (eRS)

17. Personal Demographics Service (PDS)

18. Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator (SHMI)

19. Medicines Dispensed in Primary Care (NHSBSA Data)

20. Adult Social Care Data

Data quality management and pseudonymisation is completed within the DSCRO and is then disseminated as follows:

Data Processor 1 – NHS Midlands and Lancashire CSU

1. Pseudonymised SUS+, Local Provider data, Mental Health data (MHSDS, MHMDS, MHLDDS), Maternity data (MSDS), Improving Access to Psychological Therapies data (IAPT), Child and Young People’s Health data (CYPHS), Community Services Data Set (CSDS), Diagnostic Imaging data (DIDS), National Cancer Waiting Times Monitoring Data Set (CWT), Civil Registries Data (CRD) (Births and Deaths), National Diabetes Audit (NDA), Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), e-Referral Service (eRS), Personal Demographics Service (PDS), Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator (SHMI), Medicines Dispensed in Primary Care (NHSBSA Data) and Adult Social Care data only is securely transferred from the DSCRO to NHS Midlands and Lancashire CSU

2. NHS Midlands and Lancashire CSU add derived fields by using existing data, link data and provide analysis to:

a. See patient journeys for pathways or service design, re-design and de-commissioning.

b. Check recorded activity against contracts or invoices and facilitate discussions with providers.

c. Undertake population health management

d. Undertake data quality and validation checks

e. Thoroughly investigate the needs of the population

f. Understand cohorts of residents who are at risk

g. Conduct Health Needs Assessments

3. Allowed linkage is between the data sets contained within point 1.

4. NHS Midlands and Lancashire CSU then pass the processed, pseudonymised and linked data to the CCG.

5. Aggregation of required data for CCG management use will be completed by NHS Midlands and Lancashire CSU or the CCG as instructed by the CCG.

6. Patient level data will not be shared outside of the CCG and will only be shared within the CCG on a need to know basis, as per the purposes stipulated within the Data Sharing Agreement. External aggregated reports only with small number suppression can be shared as set out within NHS Digital guidance applicable to each data set.

Expected output

COMMISSIONING

1. Commissioner reporting:

a. Summary by provider view - plan & actuals year to date (YTD).

b. Summary by Patient Outcome Data (POD) view - plan & actuals YTD.

c. Summary by provider view - activity & finance variance by POD.

d. Planned care by provider view - activity & finance plan & actuals YTD.

e. Planned care by POD view - activity plan & actuals YTD.

f. Provider reporting.

g. Statutory returns.

h. Statutory returns - monthly activity return.

i. Statutory returns - quarterly activity return.

j. Delayed discharges.

k. Quality & performance referral to treatment reporting.

2. Readmissions analysis.

3. Production of aggregate reports for CCG Business Intelligence.

4. Production of project / programme level dashboards.

5. Monitoring of acute / community / mental health quality matrix.

6. Clinical coding reviews / audits.

7. Budget reporting down to individual GP Practice level.

8. GP Practice level dashboard reports.

9. Comparators of CCG performance with similar CCGs as set out by a specific range of care quality and performance measures detailed activity and cost reports

10. Data Quality and Validation measures allowing data quality checks on the submitted data

11. Contract Management and Modelling

12. Patient Stratification, such as:

o Patients at highest risk of admission

o High cost activity uses (top 15%)

o Frail and elderly

o Patients that are currently in hospital

o Patients with most referrals to secondary care

o Patients with most emergency activity

o Patients with most expensive prescriptions

o Patients recently moving from one care setting to another

i. Discharged from hospital

ii. Discharged from community

13. Validation for payment approval, ability to validate that claims are not being made after an individual has died, like Oxygen services.

14. Validation of programs implemented to improve patient pathway e.g. High users unable to validate if the process to help patients find the best support are working or did the patient die.

15. Clinical - understand reasons why patients are dying, what additional support services can be put in to support.

16. Understanding where patient are dying e.g. are patients dying at hospitals due to hospices closing due to Local authorities withdrawing support, or is there a problem at a particular trust.

17. Removal of patients from Risk Stratification reports.

18. Re births provide a one stop shop of information, Births are recorded in multiple sources covering hospital and home births, a chance to overlook activity.

19. Manage demand, by understanding the quantity of assessments required CCGs are able to improve the care service for patients by predicting the impact on certain care pathways and ensure the secondary care system has enough capacity to manage the demand.

20. Monitor the timing of key actions relating to referral letters. CCG’s are unable to see the contents of the referral letters.

21. Identify low priority procedures which could be directed to community-based alternatives and as such commission these services and deflect referrals for low priority procedures resulting in a reduction in hospital referrals.

22. Allow Commissioners to better protect or improve the public health of the total local patient population

23. Allow Commissioners to plan, evaluate and monitor health and social care policies, services, or interventions for the total local patient population

24. Allow Commissioners to compare their providers (trusts) mortality outcomes to the national baseline.

25. Investigate mortality outcomes for trusts

26. Identify medication prescribing trends and their effectiveness.

27. Linking prescribing habits to entry points into the health and social care system

28. Identify, quantify and understand cohorts of patient’s high numbers of different medications (polypharmacy)

29. Monitoring, at a population level, particular cohorts of service users and designing analytical models which support more effective interventions in health and adult social care

30. Monitoring service and integrated care outcomes across a pathway or care setting involving adult social care

Expected measurable benefits

COMMISSIONING

1. Supporting Quality Innovation Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) to review demand management, integrated care and pathways.

a. Analysis to support full business cases.

b. Develop business models.

c. Monitor In year projects.

2. Supporting Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) for specific disease types.

3. Health economic modelling using:

a. Analysis on provider performance against 18 weeks wait targets.

b. Learning from and predicting likely patient pathways for certain conditions, in order to influence early interventions and other treatments for patients.

c. Analysis of outcome measures for differential treatments, accounting for the full patient pathway.

d. Analysis to understand emergency care and linking A&E and Emergency Urgent Care Flows (EUCC).

4. Commissioning cycle support for grouping and re-costing previous activity.

5. Enables monitoring of:

a. CCG outcome indicators.

b. Financial and Non-financial validation of activity.

c. Successful delivery of integrated care within the CCG.

d. Checking frequent or multiple attendances to improve early intervention and avoid admissions.

e. Case management.

f. Care service planning.

g. Commissioning and performance management.

h. List size verification by GP practices.

i. Understanding the care of patients in nursing homes.

6. Feedback to NHS service providers on data quality at an aggregate and individual record level – only on data initially provided by the service providers.

7. Improved planning by better understanding patient flows through the healthcare system, thus allowing commissioners to design appropriate pathways to improve patient flow and allowing commissioners to identify priorities and identify plans to address these.

8. Improved quality of services through reduced emergency readmissions, especially avoidable emergency admissions. This is achieved through mapping of frequent users of emergency services and early intervention of appropriate care.

9. Improved access to services by identifying which services may be in demand but have poor access, and from this identify areas where improvement is required.

10. Potentially reduced premature mortality by more targeted intervention in primary care, which supports the commissioner to meets its requirement to reduce premature mortality in line with the CCG Outcome Framework.

11. Better understanding of the health of and the variations in health outcomes within the population to help understand local population characteristics.

12. Better understanding of contract requirements, contract execution, and required services for management of existing contracts, and to assist with identification and planning of future contracts

13. Insights into patient outcomes, and identification of the possible efficacy of outcomes-based contracting opportunities.

14. Providing greater understanding of the underlying courses and look to commission improved supportive networks, this would be ongoing work which would be continually assessed.

15. Insight to understand the numerous factors that play a role in the outcome for both datasets. The linkage will allow the reporting both prior to, during and after the activity, to provide greater assurance on predictive outcomes and delivery of best practice.

16. Provision of indicators of health problems, and patterns of risk within the commissioning region.

17. Support of benchmarking for evaluating progress in future years.

18. Allow reporting to drive changes and improve the quality of commissioned services and health outcomes for people.

19. Assists commissioners to make better decisions to support patients and drive changes in health care

20. Allows comparisons of providers performance to assist improvement in services – increase the quality

21. Allow analysis of health care provision to be completed to support the needs of the health profile of the population within the CCG area based on the full analysis of multiple pseudonymised datasets.

22. To evaluate the impact of new services and innovations (e.g. if commissioners implement a new service or type of procedure with a provider, they can evaluate whether it improves outcomes for patients compared to the previous one).

23. Monitoring of entire population, as a pose to only those that engage with services

24. Enable Commissioners to be able to see early indications of potential practice resilience issues in that an early warning marker can often be a trend of patients re-registering themselves at a neighbouring practice.

25. Monitor the quality and safety of the delivery of healthcare services.

26. Allow focused commissioning support based on factual data rather than assumed and projected sources

27. Understand admissions linked to overprescribing.

28. Add value to the population health management workstream by adding prescribing data into linked dataset for segmentation and stratification.

29. Developing, through evaluation of person-level data, more effective prevention strategies and interventions across a pathway or care setting involving adult social care

30. Designing and implementing new payment models across health and adult social care

31. Understanding current and future population needs and resource utilisation for local strategic planning and commissioning purposes including for health, social care and public health needs.

Benefits reported so far

The CCG has made use of the patient-level data to understand where:

• There are overlapping services which duplicate unnecessarily, missing services needed to support an individual.

• There is a material risk of increased acute admission, based on both Acorn profiling, and historic service attendance and admission.

• There are deficits in the Eight Fundamental Indicators which, when they go wrong, avoidably take away somebody’s independence.

The CCGs have recently published their annual reports for 2020/21 -

https://www.haltonwarringtonccg.nhs.uk/about-us/policies-and-procedures/warrington-policies/annual-reports-1/1621-nhs-warrington-ccg-annual-report-2020-2021/file

https://www.haltonwarringtonccg.nhs.uk/about-us/policies-and-procedures/halton-policies/annual-reports/1623-nhs-halton-ccg-annual-report-2020-2021/file

These reports highlights the achievements made during the year, of which some would only have been achieved by using the data from NHS Digital.

Further information about other achievements and future priorities can be found within the reports.

Datasets on the latest version

Legal basis for provision: Health and Social Care Act 2012 - s261 - 'Other dissemination of information'; Health and Social Care Act 2012 – s261(7); National Health Service Act 2006 - s251 - 'Control of patient information'.

Datasets approved under DARS-NIC-423551-K2C4H-v1.3
DatasetType of dataSensitivity FrequencyConfidential data
Acute-Local Provider Flows Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Adult Social Care Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Ambulance-Local Provider Flows Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Children and Young People Health Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Civil Registration - Births Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Civil Registrations of Death Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Community Services Data Set (CSDS) Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Community-Local Provider Flows Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Demand for Service-Local Provider Flows Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Diagnostic Imaging Data Set (DID) Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Diagnostic Services-Local Provider Flows Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
e-Referral Service for Commissioning Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Emergency Care-Local Provider Flows Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Experience, Quality and Outcomes-Local Provider Flows Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) v1.5 Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Maternity Services Data Set Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Medicines dispensed in Primary Care (NHSBSA data) Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Data Set (MHLDDS) Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Mental Health Minimum Data Set (MHMDS) Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS) Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Mental Health-Local Provider Flows Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
National Cancer Waiting Times Monitoring DataSet (NCWTMDS) Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
National Diabetes Audit Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Other Not Elsewhere Classified (NEC)-Local Provider Flows Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Personal Demographic Service Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Population Data-Local Provider Flows Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Primary Care Services-Local Provider Flows Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Public Health and Screening Services-Local Provider Flows Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator (SHMI) Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
SUS for Commissioners Anonymised - ICO Code Compliant Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow Does not include the flow of confidential data
SUS for Commissioners Identifiable Sensitive Frequent Adhoc Flow 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 2 versions.

DARS-NIC-423551-K2C4H-v1.3 18 November 2021 to 17 November 2024
Title
DSfC - NHS Halton CCG & NHS Warrington CCG - Comm
Commercial
No
Sublicensing
No
Datasets
32
Files released
0

Datasets: Acute-Local Provider Flows; Adult Social Care; Ambulance-Local Provider Flows; Children and Young People Health; Civil Registration - Births; Civil Registrations of Death; Community Services Data Set (CSDS); Community-Local Provider Flows; Demand for Service-Local Provider Flows; Diagnostic Imaging Data Set (DID); Diagnostic Services-Local Provider Flows; e-Referral Service for Commissioning; Emergency Care-Local Provider Flows; Experience, Quality and Outcomes-Local Provider Flows; Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) v1.5; Maternity Services Data Set; Medicines dispensed in Primary Care (NHSBSA data); Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Data Set (MHLDDS); Mental Health Minimum Data Set (MHMDS); Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS); Mental Health-Local Provider Flows; National Cancer Waiting Times Monitoring DataSet (NCWTMDS); National Diabetes Audit; Other Not Elsewhere Classified (NEC)-Local Provider Flows; Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs); Personal Demographic Service; Population Data-Local Provider Flows; Primary Care Services-Local Provider Flows; Public Health and Screening Services-Local Provider Flows; Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator (SHMI); SUS for Commissioners; SUS for Commissioners

What changed from DARS-NIC-423551-K2C4H-v0.2

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

Fields changed from DARS-NIC-423551-K2C4H-v0.2
FieldWasBecame
Start date2020-12-172021-11-18
End date2023-12-162024-11-17

Datasets: + Adult Social Care; + Medicines dispensed in Primary Care (NHSBSA data)

Objective for processing

[34 paragraphs unchanged] - Medicines Dispensed in Primary Care (NHSBSA Data) - Adult Social Care Data Processing of the Medicines Dispensed in Primary Care (NHSBSA Data) dataset is only permitted to provide intelligence about the safety and effectiveness of medicines, as specified by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) Medicines Data Directions 2019. [4 paragraphs unchanged] • Using value as the redesign principle [10 paragraphs unchanged]  Provide intelligence about the safety and effectiveness of medicines.  Allow analysis of patient pathways across healthcare and social care [2 paragraphs unchanged]

Processing activities

[10 paragraphs unchanged] Patient level data will not be shared outside of the CCG unless it is for the purpose of Direct Care, where it may be shared only with those health professionals who have a legitimate relationship with the patient and a legitimate reason to access the data. There is no requirement for the analytical teams to re-identify patients, but in the development of cohorts of patients considered to be at risk, the data controllers may need the facility to provide identifiable results back to direct healthcare professionals or local authority direct care staff only for the purpose of direct care. All re-id requests will be processed and authorised by the DSCRO on a case by case basis. National data opt outs are not applied in these cases as they are for the purposes of direct care which follows the legal basis of implied consent. An example of a request for the re-id of patients for direct care may be; A&E High Attendance usage The CCG can filter data to show for example the number of A&E attendances in a given period for each patient. The CCG can then flag to the relevant GP of the patient any patients that require intervention. An outcome of this is earlier intervention in the patient(s) care thus potentially reducing future costs and minimising future risk. Polypharmacy re-IDs CCG's can request re-ID of a list of patients to be sent to the relevant GP with a high number of medications (ingredient count) and review the medication for these patients. This can help address the risk of polypharmacy which is recognised as an adverse risk factor for patient safety. A by-product of such reviews may be to reduce costs of medication. The Re-identification process for direct care is as follows: 1. The CCG identifies a patient cohort (typically small numbers) to be re-identified for the purpose of direct care. 2. The CCG sends a re-id request to the DSCRO. This may be done through the CCG or CSU’s Business Intelligence (BI) Tool, or through a manual form. 3. The DSCRO (either through an automated system or manual checking in line with the request) assesses as to whether the request passes the specified re-identification process checks. Checks include if the requester is authorised to access identifiable data, if the number of patients in the cohort is appropriate, and that the request does not seem inappropriate or outside of expected parameters, including for example around timings and the requestor’s relationship with patients in the data 4. If successful/approved, the DSCRO re-identifies the relevant data item(s) for the appropriate patients and returns the identifiable fields to Health or care professional(s) with a legitimate relationship to the patient. The CCG does not see the identifiable record. 5. DSCROs retain an audit trail of all re-id requests 6. National Data opt outs are not applied for the purpose of direct care [15 paragraphs unchanged] Lima Networks Ltd and and St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals NHS Trust supply IT infrastructure and [35 words unchanged] agreement. This includes granting of access to the database[s] containing the data. [32 paragraphs unchanged] 19. Medicines Dispensed in Primary Care (NHSBSA Data) 20. Adult Social Care Data [2 paragraphs unchanged] 1. Pseudonymised SUS+, Local Provider data, Mental Health data (MHSDS, MHMDS, MHLDDS), [44 words unchanged] (NDA), Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), e-Referral Service (eRS), Personal Demographics Service (PDS) and (PDS), Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator (SHMI) (SHMI), Medicines Dispensed in Primary Care (NHSBSA Data) and Adult Social Care data only is securely transferred from the DSCRO to NHS Midlands and Lancashire CSU [12 paragraphs unchanged]

Expected output

[47 paragraphs unchanged] 26. Identify medication prescribing trends and their effectiveness. 27. Linking prescribing habits to entry points into the health and social care system 28. Identify, quantify and understand cohorts of patient’s high numbers of different medications (polypharmacy) 29. Monitoring, at a population level, particular cohorts of service users and designing analytical models which support more effective interventions in health and adult social care 30. Monitoring service and integrated care outcomes across a pathway or care setting involving adult social care

Expected measurable benefits

[43 paragraphs unchanged] 27. Understand admissions linked to overprescribing. 28. Add value to the population health management workstream by adding prescribing data into linked dataset for segmentation and stratification. 29. Developing, through evaluation of person-level data, more effective prevention strategies and interventions across a pathway or care setting involving adult social care 30. Designing and implementing new payment models across health and adult social care 31. Understanding current and future population needs and resource utilisation for local strategic planning and commissioning purposes including for health, social care and public health needs.

Benefits reported

Yielded Benefits is not a requirement for new applications. The CCG has made use of the patient-level data to understand where: • There are overlapping services which duplicate unnecessarily, missing services needed to support an individual. • There is a material risk of increased acute admission, based on both Acorn profiling, and historic service attendance and admission. • There are deficits in the Eight Fundamental Indicators which, when they go wrong, avoidably take away somebody’s independence. The CCGs have recently published their annual reports for 2020/21 - https://www.haltonwarringtonccg.nhs.uk/about-us/policies-and-procedures/warrington-policies/annual-reports-1/1621-nhs-warrington-ccg-annual-report-2020-2021/file https://www.haltonwarringtonccg.nhs.uk/about-us/policies-and-procedures/halton-policies/annual-reports/1623-nhs-halton-ccg-annual-report-2020-2021/file These reports highlights the achievements made during the year, of which some would only have been achieved by using the data from NHS Digital. Further information about other achievements and future priorities can be found within the reports.

DARS-NIC-423551-K2C4H-v0.2 17 December 2020 to 16 December 2023
Title
DSfC - NHS Halton CCG & NHS Warrington CCG - Comm
Commercial
No
Sublicensing
No
Datasets
30
Files released
0

Datasets: Acute-Local Provider Flows; Ambulance-Local Provider Flows; Children and Young People Health; Civil Registration - Births; Civil Registrations of Death; Community Services Data Set (CSDS); Community-Local Provider Flows; Demand for Service-Local Provider Flows; Diagnostic Imaging Data Set (DID); Diagnostic Services-Local Provider Flows; e-Referral Service for Commissioning; Emergency Care-Local Provider Flows; Experience, Quality and Outcomes-Local Provider Flows; Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) v1.5; Maternity Services Data Set; Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Data Set (MHLDDS); Mental Health Minimum Data Set (MHMDS); Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS); Mental Health-Local Provider Flows; National Cancer Waiting Times Monitoring DataSet (NCWTMDS); National Diabetes Audit; Other Not Elsewhere Classified (NEC)-Local Provider Flows; Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs); Personal Demographic Service; Population Data-Local Provider Flows; Primary Care Services-Local Provider Flows; Public Health and Screening Services-Local Provider Flows; Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator (SHMI); SUS for Commissioners; SUS for Commissioners

Objective for processing

COMMISSIONING

To use pseudonymised data to provide intelligence to support the commissioning of health services. The data (containing both clinical and financial information) is analysed so that health care provision can be planned to support the needs of the population within the CCG area.

The CCGs commission services from a range of providers covering a wide array of services. Each of the data flow categories requested supports the commissioned activity of one or more providers.

The following pseudonymised datasets are required to provide intelligence to support commissioning of health services:

- Secondary Uses Service (SUS+)

- Local Provider Flows

o Acute

o Ambulance

o Community

o Demand for Service

o Diagnostic Service

o Emergency Care

o Experience, Quality and Outcomes

o Mental Health

o Other Not Elsewhere Classified

o Population Data

o Primary Care Services

o Public Health Screening

- Mental Health Minimum Data Set (MHMDS)

- Mental Health Learning Disability Data Set (MHLDDS)

- Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS)

- Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS)

- Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT)

- Child and Young People Health Service (CYPHS)

- Community Services Data Set (CSDS)

- Diagnostic Imaging Data Set (DIDS)

- National Cancer Waiting Times Monitoring Data Set (CWT)

- Civil Registries Data (CRD) (Births)

- Civil Registries Data (CRD) (Deaths)

- National Diabetes Audit (NDA)

- Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs)

- e-Referral Service (eRS)

- Personal Demographics Service (PDS)

- Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator (SHMI)

The pseudonymised data is required to for the following purposes:

 Population health management:

• Understanding the interdependency of care services

• Targeting care more effectively

• Using value as the redesign principle

 Data Quality and Validation – allowing data quality checks on the submitted data

 Thoroughly investigating the needs of the population, to ensure the right services are available for individuals when and where they need them

 Understanding cohorts of residents who are at risk of becoming users of some of the more expensive services, to better understand and manage those needs

 Monitoring population health and care interactions to understand where people may slip through the net, or where the provision of care may be being duplicated

 Modelling activity across all data sets to understand how services interact with each other, and to understand how changes in one service may affect flows through another

 Service redesign

 Health Needs Assessment – identification of underlying disease prevalence within the local population

 Patient stratification and predictive modelling - to highlight cohorts of patients at risk of requiring hospital admission and other avoidable factors such as risk of falls, computed using algorithms executed against linked de-identified data, and identification of future service delivery models

 Demand Management - to improve the care service for patients by predicting the impact on certain care pathways and support the secondary care system in ensuring enough capacity to manage the demand.

 Support measuring the health, mortality or care needs of the total local population

The pseudonymised data is required to ensure that analysis of health care provision can be completed to support the needs of the health profile of the population within the CCG area based on the full analysis of multiple pseudonymised datasets.

Processing for commissioning will be conducted by Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit.

Expected output

COMMISSIONING

1. Commissioner reporting:

a. Summary by provider view - plan & actuals year to date (YTD).

b. Summary by Patient Outcome Data (POD) view - plan & actuals YTD.

c. Summary by provider view - activity & finance variance by POD.

d. Planned care by provider view - activity & finance plan & actuals YTD.

e. Planned care by POD view - activity plan & actuals YTD.

f. Provider reporting.

g. Statutory returns.

h. Statutory returns - monthly activity return.

i. Statutory returns - quarterly activity return.

j. Delayed discharges.

k. Quality & performance referral to treatment reporting.

2. Readmissions analysis.

3. Production of aggregate reports for CCG Business Intelligence.

4. Production of project / programme level dashboards.

5. Monitoring of acute / community / mental health quality matrix.

6. Clinical coding reviews / audits.

7. Budget reporting down to individual GP Practice level.

8. GP Practice level dashboard reports.

9. Comparators of CCG performance with similar CCGs as set out by a specific range of care quality and performance measures detailed activity and cost reports

10. Data Quality and Validation measures allowing data quality checks on the submitted data

11. Contract Management and Modelling

12. Patient Stratification, such as:

o Patients at highest risk of admission

o High cost activity uses (top 15%)

o Frail and elderly

o Patients that are currently in hospital

o Patients with most referrals to secondary care

o Patients with most emergency activity

o Patients with most expensive prescriptions

o Patients recently moving from one care setting to another

i. Discharged from hospital

ii. Discharged from community

13. Validation for payment approval, ability to validate that claims are not being made after an individual has died, like Oxygen services.

14. Validation of programs implemented to improve patient pathway e.g. High users unable to validate if the process to help patients find the best support are working or did the patient die.

15. Clinical - understand reasons why patients are dying, what additional support services can be put in to support.

16. Understanding where patient are dying e.g. are patients dying at hospitals due to hospices closing due to Local authorities withdrawing support, or is there a problem at a particular trust.

17. Removal of patients from Risk Stratification reports.

18. Re births provide a one stop shop of information, Births are recorded in multiple sources covering hospital and home births, a chance to overlook activity.

19. Manage demand, by understanding the quantity of assessments required CCGs are able to improve the care service for patients by predicting the impact on certain care pathways and ensure the secondary care system has enough capacity to manage the demand.

20. Monitor the timing of key actions relating to referral letters. CCG’s are unable to see the contents of the referral letters.

21. Identify low priority procedures which could be directed to community-based alternatives and as such commission these services and deflect referrals for low priority procedures resulting in a reduction in hospital referrals.

22. Allow Commissioners to better protect or improve the public health of the total local patient population

23. Allow Commissioners to plan, evaluate and monitor health and social care policies, services, or interventions for the total local patient population

24. Allow Commissioners to compare their providers (trusts) mortality outcomes to the national baseline.

25. Investigate mortality outcomes for trusts

Benefits reported

Yielded Benefits is not a requirement for new applications.

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-423551-K2C4H, “DSfC - NHS Halton CCG & NHS Warrington CCG - Comm”. Read via NHS Data Access Explorer (unofficial), https://healthdatauses.uk/agreements/dars-nic-423551-k2c4h/ (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-423551-K2C4H to see the original rows.