Gathering data for health care regulation: learning from experience in England and Wales

Abstract

Between 2000 and 2004, the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) undertook a comprehensive programme of reviews of progress with clinical governance in National Health Service trusts (provider organizations) in England and Wales. An internal retrospective evaluation of the main instruments and processes used to gather evidence for these reviews was undertaken to identify lessons for the future development of health care regulation methods. A multimethod retrospective study involving review of data-gathering tools previously undertaken by CHI, an intranet-based survey and confidential interviews with CHI staff. The study reviewed 11 instruments and processes used to gather information about trusts from routine data-sets, internal documents, staff, patients and the public, local statutory bodies, and community and voluntary stake-holders. Analysis focused on inputs required (skills and resources required to use the approaches effectively and challenges associated with their use) and value obtained (relevance and quality of the information obtained and its contribution to clinical governance review conclusions). Most of the instruments and processes evaluated had the potential to elicit worthwhile information for clinical governance reviews, but in practice their value varied considerably. A range of factors, within and beyond CHI, was found to affect the quality of the data obtained. Based on this learning, lessons are identified whose implementation would help optimize the quality of data gathering for health care regulation.