Relaunch: The National Indicators Tool

We are excited to announce that our National Indicators tool (formerly known as the Integrated Care Benchmarker) has been updated!

What is the National Indicators tool?
The National Indicators dataset is curated in collaboration with Network members and other stakeholders. It draws from a range of publicly available data sources with the aim of supporting healthcare leaders in developing strategic planning and delivering the goals of the NHS Long Term Plan.

Data is presented in the tool at ICB level via charts, maps, and time series analysis and has the facility to drill down to sub-ICB and Local Authority level data.

Key updates
The refreshed version of this tool introduced several enhancements which are designed to improve user experience. Key updates include:

• An updated landing pate with a streamlined search box, allowing users to quickly locate the data needed.

• A new ‘tags’ feature that organises data into easily navigable groups.

• Bookmarking capabilities to save metrics of interest for faster access in future visits.

• A new feedback button, allowing users to provide direct feedback on specific metrics or features.

These updates are part of our ongoing commitment to improving the tool. In the coming weeks and months, we plan to release further updates and publish ‘How-To’ videos to help users utilise the tool.

How to access the tool
Members can access the National Indicators tool on the members’ area.

From a member organisation but don’t have a members’ area login? Request one here.

If your organisation is not a member and you’d like to find out more about becoming a member, please get in touch.

Annual NHS Benchmarking Network Steering Group Away Day!

On Thursday 21st November, the Support Team set off to Birmingham to meet with the NHSBN Steering Group for a productive planning day. The agenda for the day included the quarterly governance meeting, discussions around the 2025/26 member work programme, finance, and then rounding off the day with table discussions.

Governance Meeting
The governance meeting covered the progress that the Support Team have made on the 2024/25 member work programme and how this has helped work towards the NHSBN objectives for the year. There have been many improvements that have been implemented over the 2024/25 membership year, such as:

• The show code feature

• The introduction of the NHSFutures workspace

• A new online validation tool

• The introduction of the Virtual Wards project

We continue to work with our Steering Group, Reference Groups and members on their feedback to ensure that members’ get the most value out of membership.

2025/26 Member Work Programme
The Support Team then went on to present the proposed Member Work Programme for 2025/26. This included detail of the changes and updates to each project based upon member feedback, ensuring national datasets are utilised where possible to reduce the data burden. The Steering Group approved the Member Work Programme proposal. Communications regarding the 2025/26 Member Work Programme will be sent out to members in the new year.

2025/26 Budget and Membership Fees
The 2025/26 proposed budget and membership fee model were presented to Steering Group members. After discussion around the current financial landscape and the impact of the proposals the budget and membership fee proposals were approved. Communications regarding membership renewals and the 2025/26 membership fees will be sent out to members in the new year.

Technology update
There has been significant investment in technology at NHSBN, which will make the online tools more efficient and effective for our members, whether its registering for a project, uploading data, validation or viewing outputs. Following member feedback, the Support Team have also been working on relaunching the Integrated Care Benchmarker. This will now be known as National Indicators and communications around this are imminent.

2024/25 Steering Group Update:
This membership year we have had some movement within our Steering Group member. You can find out more information about the Steering Group and its current members via our Steering Group webpage.

We have welcomed four new Steering Group members:

• Amar Shah, East London NHS Foundation Trust

• Helen Potter, Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

• Lisa Franklin, Hampshire and Isle of White ICB

• Rebecca Taylor, Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust

And said thank you and farewell to four Steering Group members:

• Gaurav Sharma, West London NHS Trust

• Gurprit Pannu, Sussex Health and Care

• Hassan Paraiso, The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

• Mohit Venkataram, East London NHS Foundation Trust

We would like to thank all of our Steering Group members for their continued support throughout 2024 and look forward to continuing to work with your in the future.

New projects commissioned by NHS England

The NHS Benchmarking Network is delighted to announce new NHS England commissioned projects within our Insight and Analytics Programme.

The projects aim to build on work which forms part of our extensive member benchmarking programme and support health and social care organisation with insight to improve service delivery and outcomes. Find out more about each of the projects below.

• Assessment of standards of care for people with a learning disability or autistic people in contact with health and justice organisations: Following the delivery of phase one of this project in 2022, this project has been recommissioned for the delivery of phase two. Phase one included a representative sample of prisons, Liaison and Diversion services across England. Phase two will extend the scope of the project participation to five Health and Justice areas in England, to include all adult prisons, Liaison Diversion services, Sexual Assault Referral Clinics (SARCs), Mental Health Treatment Requirement services (MHTR) and Reconnect.
  

• Children’s Speech and Language Therapy and Paediatric Services: This new project will explore Children’s Speech and Language Therapy and Paediatric services in England. It aims to improve service delivery for children and young people.
  

• Learning Disabilities Improvement Standards (LDIS) has been recommissioned for round 7! The NHS England Learning Disability Improvement Standards review is a national collection designed to understand the extent of organisational compliance with the NHSE Learning Disability Improvement Standards. It identifies improvement opportunities and reflects the strategic objectives and priorities described in national policies. Communications regarding registration and data collection dates will be released in the coming weeks.
  

• MHLDA Data Collection and Mapping Refresh: First commissioned in 2023, this project will continue the work with stakeholders to support a system-wide understanding of the bed provision for MHLDA services in England.  
  

• Physical Restraint in Mental Health Inpatient Settings: This new project will review all physical restraint training in NHS commissioned Mental Health Inpatient services in England. It aims to find themes and gaps in data and understanding, and to compile recommendations.

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Interested in commissioning a project? Contact the Insight and Analytics team today!

Constructed in partnership with the commissioner, our bespoke projects can provide strong evidence to support planning and delivery. A typical bespoke project will span 3-6 months and follow the below delivery cycle.

Phase 1: Initiation and Planning

Phase 2: Specification and Development

Phase 3: Data Collection

Phase 4: Analysis

Phase 5: Reporting and Dissemination

If this is of interest to your organisation or system and you would like to find out more please get in touch enquiries@nhsbenchmarking.nhs.uk.

National Conference of Community Hospitals Association - ‘Leading Best Practices Today, Shaping the Healthcare of Tomorrow’

On the 10th October, the National Conference of Community Hospitals Association (CHA) convened for its first gathering since 2017. The conference brought together healthcare professionals, policymakers, and international guests. The two day event focused on "Leading Best Practices Today, Shaping the Healthcare of Tomorrow."

Colleagues from the Member Programme Team and our National Audit for Care at the End of Life Team were invited to attend the two day conference.

The Member Programme Team

Sarah Handby, Senior Project Manager, and Danny Iyoha, Project Manager, attended from the Member Programme Team. They ran workshops, showcasing the Network's community hospitals data, focusing on Emergency Care and Intermediate Care. They also facilitated structured discussions around the data requirements for community hospitals and explored how the Network can support this moving forward.

The whole conference highlighted all the amazing work done in community hospitals around the UK, and also internationally.

Sarah Handby had this to say:
”It was wonderful to speak with so many members of the Network and hear how they have used the data to support service improvement in their local area and share ideas for future iterations.”

If you have any suggestions on how we can support community hospitals within our member programme, please contact the team at nhsbn.members@nhs.net.

The National Audit of Care at the End of Life (NACEL) Team

In addition to plenary sessions, the conference featured workshops led by Joylin Brockett, Senior Project Manager at NHS Benchmarking Network and Dr Mary Miller, NACEL Clinical Lead and Consultant Palliative Medicine at Oxford University Hospitals Foundation Trust. The workshops attracted 40 participants and provided an introduction to the National Audit of Care at the End of Life (NACEL), covering eligibility criteria, driver diagrams, exclusion criteria, and audit elements which include:

• Four data streams

• A NACEL portal

• Data and Improvement Tool (DIT)

• Data Dashboards

Participants were particularly engaged in the live demonstration of the Data Improvement Tool (DIT). Examples of the case note review, bereavement survey (quality survey), staff survey and hospital level data on community results were shared which showed that community hospitals are doing better than the national picture on most metrics.

Participation figures for NACEL 2024 so far… Key questions posed during the workshops:

Feedback from participants highlighted strong interest in the data presented and excitement about potential quality improvement initiatives. However, there were also calls for consideration regarding the clarity of language used.

Takeaways:
A key takeaway from the conference was the lack of a national definition of a community hospital. Professor Chris Whitty noted that there are about 100 community hospitals in the UK, but no one keeps a complete list of them. Without this list, it is hard to know the impact of these institutions.

Commissioning for community hospitals varies widely across regions. Some facilities are classical locally embedded cottage hospitals with beds serving a rural community. A minority are part of acute Trusts, and many do not have inpatient beds focusing on acute healthcare and social care issues, but may not provide care at the end of life. This diversity underscores the need for a cohesive national strategy, which the CHA aims to develop.

The conference also emphasised the huge ambition for data and quality improvement within community hospitals. A special interest group supported by Q has been established, with recordings available on the CHA YouTube channel (@CommHospUK) for those unable to attend.

Launching our member programme event season!

We are excited to announce the launch of our highly anticipated webinar events season, kicking off on Tuesday 3rd September with our Learning Disability Specialist Services Data Collection Launch Event. 

The majority of member programme projects are now in validation and the project support teams are preparing for our annual benchmarking findings events taking place from September to January. As ever, our events are highly popular, engaging and informative, covering a wide range of topics and healthcare trends. A full schedule can be found below. 

The benchmarking findings webinars bring together our expert Support Team and senior healthcare professionals. They will share their expertise and best practices across different healthcare sectors - whether you're a nurse, project manager, or analyst. These webinars will offer valuable knowledge and actionable takeaways to improve your organisation's performance and drive success. 

“Once again we are preparing for the launch of our events season, including our highly popular project findings events. We are excited to be providing a platform to not only showcase our data but invite professionals to connect, learn and grow” - Emma Bamber, Associate Director Member Programme. 

Registration for any of the events below can be completed here - upon registration, participants will receive an email confirmation and calendar invite which is to be used to access the event. 

Interested members are encouraged to secure their spot early. Register now for specific webinars or to gain comprehensive knowledge across multiple disciplines why not opt for the entire series! t  Webinar recordings will be made available on the members’ area for those who attend and want to recap and to ensure those who are unable to attend can access the content at their convenience.  Don’t have access to the members’ area, you can request access here  

All events will take place on Microsoft Teams unless otherwise stated. If you have any difficulties registering, then please contact enquiries@nhsbenchmarking.nhs.uk   
 
We look forward to welcoming you all to our webinars later this year!   

September 

Every Tuesday (14:00 – 14:30) - Community projects drop-in session  

Every Thursday (11:30 – 12:00) - Acute projects drop-in session 

03/09/24 (14:00 – 15:00) - Learning Disability Specialist Services Data Collection Launch Event 

25/09/24 (15:00 – 16:00) - Annual General Meeting 

October 

15/10/24 (13:30 – 16:00) - Emergency Care Benchmarking Findings Event 

16/10/24 (13:30 – 16:00) - Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation Benchmarking Findings Event  

25/10/24 (13:00 – 16:00) - NHSBN and the Queen’s Nursing Institute; Exploring the landscape of District Nursing in 2023/24 

30/10/24 (13:00 – 15:00) - Adult and Older People's Mental Health Benchmarking Findings Event 

November 

13/11/24 (13:30 – 16:30) - Managing Frailty in the Acute Setting Benchmarking Findings Event 

14/11/24 (13:00 – 15:00) - Children and Young People’s Mental Health Benchmarking Findings Event 

20/11/24 (13:00 – 16:00) - Therapies Benchmarking Event (Adult Therapies and Children's Community Therapies projects) 

29/11/24 (13:30 – 16:00) - Healthy Child Programme and Children's Community Nursing Findings Event 

December 

10/12/24 (13:30 – 16:00) - Outpatients Benchmarking Findings Event 

12/12/24 (13:30 – 16:30) - Intermediate Care Benchmarking Findings Event 

NHSBN Steering Group Elections Update

As members of the Network will be aware, there have been several vacancies on our Steering Group.  The team have been running back-to-back elections to recruit representatives for the Acute, Mental Health and ICS Sectors. 

A total of six expressions of interest were received from Acute Sector representatives and after a round of voting by acute constituent members and interviews with the Senior Leadership Team at the NHS Benchmarking Network.  We are pleased to announce that our newest recruit and Acute Sector representative is Becky Taylor, Director of Continuous Improvement, Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust.

Becky is experienced in working in data-driven healthcare consultancy, including working with the national teams on productivity data, and driving operational performance improvement across a range of acute and community providers across the country, with over 10 years experience, working in over 40 Trusts! Welcome Becky!  

There have been 6 expressions of interest received for the vacancy of the Mental Health Representative.  Constituent members for the Mental Health Sector are currently voting on their top 3 candidates.  Product Leads, Deputy Product Leads and CEO’s keep a look out for the email regarding the voting process.  The top 3 candidates with the most votes will then meet with the Senior Leadership Team here at the Network for an informal interview before a final decision by Co-Chairs of the Steering Group. 

Finally, we are calling for expressions of interest for the ICS sector representative.  If your ICB is a member of the Network and you would like to submit an expression of interest, please contact c.taiwo2@nhs.net  

Farewells 

As we start to welcome new representatives to the Steering Group, we say farewell to Dr Hassan Paraiso, Consultant Acute Physician and Clinical Director Urgent care at The Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Gaurav Sharma, Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and Medical Lead at West London NHS Trust and Gurprit Pannu, Chief Digital & Information Officer at Sussex Health and Care. 

Thank you all for your continued support over your tenures on the NHS Benchmarking Network’s Steering Group! 

To find out more about the NHS Benchmarking Network why not register here and join us on teams for our Annual General Meeting which takes place on Wednesday 25th September, 3pm-4pm.   

NHS Benchmarking Network Away Day - July 2024

Twice a year the NHS Benchmarking Network team meet for a themed ‘Away Day’. On Friday 12th July, we headed to Platt Fields Market Garden in South Manchester where we were welcomed and hosted by not-for-profit enterprise Manchester Urban Diggers (MUD).

MUD was chosen as a venue because of the great work it is doing for the community. MUD’s focus is on revitalising communities within Greater Manchester through sustainable food production. This includes advocating for food sovereignty, providing volunteering opportunities and services and growing fruit, vegetables and herbs to make available to the local community.

The day was split into two halves; the morning session was focused on team developments and sharing of ideas, with the focus on the Networks values and behaviours. The afternoon the Network Team worked as volunteers in the garden and took part in activities to support wellbeing.

To kick off the morning session Director Sarah Atkinson welcomed new colleagues, joining the Network this week. Following this Sarah tested our knowledge of all things NHS Benchmarking Network through a quiz. The quiz allowed everyone to gain a better understanding of all the different elements and mechanisms that make up the Network Support Team.

After a short break, Product Designer David Hughes gave an in-depth presentation on the upcoming technical developments, outlining how the development is progressing and how the various components work together to support the Network. Further details of this will be shared with members in due course.

The morning was rounded off with an input session with everyone, voicing their opinions on how we work together and what areas we can improve.

Following a delicious home-grown and cooked at MUD lunch, small groups took part in wellbeing activities throughout the gardens. These included yoga, basket and bracelet making. Outside of these activities, colleagues also learned new skills, completing different tasks around the gardens. These ranged from weeding, harvesting crops, potting plants, and tidying the gardens.

The activities were a fantastic way to engage in new activities, enhance our teamworking and promote wellbeing.  Engaging in volunteering gave our team a great sense of satisfaction, knowing they’re making a difference and supporting MUD with its community project.

Our Director, Sarah Atkinson had this to say about the day…

“A Great team day today volunteering at MUD CIC. Focused on working together and inspired by everything Mike and the team have created and are doing for the community in the garden at Platt Fields. Launching our new technology project, welcoming our new members of the team, then a bit of everything from harvesting, tidying, chopping and weeding to basket making and a spot of yoga (plus a delicious home-grown lunch)”

The next NHS Benchmarking Network ‘away day’ will take place in December.

Introducing the new Head of the Workforce Benchmarking Programme!

As we say farewell to Bev Sheard after 3 years of dedication to the Workforce Benchmarking Programme, we would like to introduce the new Associate Director for the Workforce Benchmarking Programme, Karen Rix.

Karen joined the Network in late 2022 as Associate Director of Network Development and ICB Lead.  Prior to joining the Network Karen spent 18 years working within the NHS, in which 15 years were spent at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.  Working as Deputy Director Karen gained a wealth of experience in mental health service provision, transformation, commissioning, and performance.  Karen’s passions lie within quality and patient focused services.  In addition to this Karen has a wealth of experience of using data and technology to bring about sustainable change and improved patient outcomes.

Before joining the Network as a permanent member of staff Karen was a member of the Network’s Steering Group as a representative for the Mental Health Sector.

As ICB lead Karen has developed an active reference group for both members and non-member to understand what ICBs require in terms of benchmarking and how the Network can develop their offer to ICBs. Karen also helped to develop the role of the Network Development team, whose focus is to support our members by sharing information and answering enquiries.

The reigns of ICB lead have now been handed over to Associate Director for the Member Programme, Emma Bamber. This enables Karen to focus on the Workforce Programme.

To find out more about the Workforce Benchmarking Programme please visit their dedicated website here

If you are interested in joining the ICB reference group, please contact emma.bamber@nhs.net

If you would like to know more about membership of the Network, please see our membership pages here  

We also offer separately commissioned bespoke insight and analytics work, developed in partnership with your organisation. More information can be found here