Return Submission Details

All returns are to be sent in the form of a comma separated text file (csv format). There will be no header record.

The return should be named as:

xxxmmmyy.csv

where:

xxx = the Local Health Board / Trust code.

mmm = first three letters of the month to which the data relates, e.g. Apr for the submission of data relating to waiting times at end April.

yy = last 2 digits of the year.

Each file may contain RTT data relating to one month only – i.e. contain data relating to one return (or census) date only. Resubmissions are routinely permissible for the month proceeding the current reporting month only and should be submitted separately.

The return should be sent via the secure upload mechanism located on the NHS Wales Data Switching Service (NWDSS) – http://nwdss.hsw.wales.nhs.uk/ (NHS Wales Users Only)

Returns should be submitted monthly and signed off in the NHS Wales Data Switching Service by Local Health Boards / Trusts by 17:00 on the 10^th working day of the month.

The 26 week Referral to Treatment Time target is applicable to Welsh residents only. Therefore, there is no requirement to submit Referral to Treatment Times for English patients being treated (or waiting for treatment) in Welsh LHBs.

Where LHBs / Trusts provide specialty services for which there are no waits to report, they are not required to include a count for that specialty. However, if the Local Health Board / Trust provides a zero open or closed pathway count for any specialty, the Organisation Code (Code of Provider), Treatment Function Code and Local Sub Specialty Code fields should be populated as normal and:

-    CP or OP may be submitted in the Data Reference field, depending on the data reference where the zero count is applicable;

-    X98 should be submitted in the Organisation Code (LHB of Residence) field;

-    X98 should be submitted in the Referring Organisation Code field;

-    A ‘9’ should be submitted in the Stage of Pathway field;

-    A zero should be submitted in the zero Weeks Wait time band;

-    A zero should be submitted in the Count field.

-    The exclusion of any patients who are known to be deceased up until the date of submission.

For Welsh residents treated (or waiting for treatment) in England:

NWIS is routinely provided with data for Welsh residents being treated (or waiting for treatment) in England. This data is initially supplied monthly by a number of English NHS organisations. NWIS is required to collate these individual returns into a single aggregate return and upload via the NHS Wales Data Switching Service –http://nwdss.hsw.wales.nhs.uk/.(NHS Wales Users Only)

NWIS will provide monthly data extracts of Welsh residents treated (or waiting for treatment) in English NHS organisations to each LHB / Trust. LHBs / Trusts are required to validate their data and agree their data to be reported centrally with NWIS by the 8^th working day of each month. NWIS is then required to submit a single all-Wales return monthly, which should be signed off in the NHS Wales Data Switching Service by 17:00 on the 10^th working day of each month.

Each monthly return should relate to data for the reporting period one month previous to the current reporting month – e.g. in June, data for Welsh residents treated (or waiting for treatment) in England in April should be submitted.

My Planned Care Platform

Upon receipt of each monthly Health Board submission of the above aggregate RTT dataset, Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW) will derive the 50th and 90th percentile wait time estimates for first outpatient appointments and time to treatment from the point of referral.

Definition and calculation of 50th and 90th percentiles

A percentile is a measure used in statistics to indicate the value below, or at, which a chosen percentage of observations fall.

The 50th percentile (known as the median) is the point at which 50% of pathway waits are above and 50% are below. In the context of RTT, if the 50th percentile is 23 weeks then 50% of pathway waits are less than 23 weeks and 50% are 23 weeks or more.

The 90th percentile is the point at which 90% of pathway waits are up to or below and 10% are above. In the context of RTT, if the 90th percentile is 38 weeks then 90% of pathway waits are less than 38 weeks and 10% are 38 weeks or more.

The RTT dataset is an aggregate data collection, meaning data are grouped into whole weeks waiting (e.g. 3 weeks, 4 weeks etc). For grouped data, percentiles can only be calculated to the weeks wait group the value falls within. Consequently, a percentile of the aggregate RTT dataset alone does not tell us how far into the week the true percentile value lies.

The technique of interpolation, leading to an interpolated percentile, provides a more accurate and meaningful measurement than the percentile group alone.

Publishing of Data

DHCW will provide Welsh Ambulance Service Trust (WAST) with data so this can then be published onto the 111 website under the My Planned Care Platform.

Before the data is published WAST will exclude any specialties which have fewer than 200 pathways. This is because smaller samples give less stable, and therefore less meaningful, percentile estimates. Welsh Government statisticians have investigated and advised on the appropriate level of suppression.

Examples:

The below are examples of how the data will be described on the website.

50th percentile:

90th percentile: