Key performance indicators (KPIs) give a high-level overview of the quality of screening programmes at important points on the screening pathway. Public Health England (PHE) Screening publishes data for 30 KPIs across the 11 national NHS screening programmes on a quarterly basis. KPIs are a subset of screening standards.
Last year we updated our framework for developing and reviewing standards. Following this work, all standards are now published consistently using our common framework.
What’s new
The final phase of this work was to improve how we linked the screening definitions of the KPIs to their standards.
We have finished this work and have now published a refreshed suite of documents for finding the data definitions and submitting KPI data.
This suite of documents includes:
- purpose and data submission guidance for all the KPIs
- a new KPI index, which lists and links every KPI to its standard definition
- a KPI and standards index in excel format, showing how they are mapped for every national screening programme
Previously we had KPI and standards definitions in several different places, but we have now simplified this so each definition is only listed once. The previous documents that listed all the KPI definitions separately has been archived.
We’ve also published guidance for the submission of antenatal and newborn blood spot (NBS) KPIs which includes a list for data sense checking.
Changes to submission templates for antenatal and NBS KPIs
For each KPI on the templates we have included links to their standard definitions.
Antenatal
On the maternity services template we have removed NP1 and NP2, as this data will now be extracted nationally from SMaRT4NIPE (S4N). We have also removed the FASP KPI FA1 as this standard has been withdrawn and replaced as we explained in a recent blog article.
Screening laboratories should submit data for the new KPI FA4 using the new submission template.
Newborn blood spot
We've made a couple of changes on the NBS template.
The first change is to add a new box for the number of declines (when a parent declines NBS screening for their baby). We ask for this because it provides important intelligence about the screening pathway and helps to identify the remaining babies to be accounted for.
The second change is to add a new box that automatically calculates the number of remaining eligible babies who were not screened for NBS and whose parents did not decline. Continue to use the commentary box at the end of the row for explaining why these babies were not screened.
Bookmark the new pages
Please have a look at these updated pages and familiarise yourself with the new layout. We recommend you save them to your favourites or bookmarks, so they’re easy to find.
PHE Screening blog
The PHE Screening blog provides up to date news from all NHS screening programmes. You can register to receive updates direct to your inbox, so there’s no need to keep checking for new blogs. If you have any questions about this blog article, or about population screening in England, please contact the PHE screening helpdesk.