Introduction
ISD has been an authoritative source of Scottish national healthcare statistics for over 50 years. As an experienced healthcare, and more recently social care, partner; ISD is uniquely positioned to provide support in information design, development and application to enhance decisions about healthcare and ultimately improve Scotland's health. We offer a wide range of high quality, high value consultancy services and products tailored specifically to Scottish health needs. These range from provision of interpretation, advice, training and support on new and existing data collections and their application, through to direct access for authorised information analysts and researchers to our key national datasets.
Researchers may also be interested in our cancer clinical trials service or may wish to extend the boundaries of their own data sets (e.g. for follow-up studies) through links with our national data sets. We also maintain a wide range of information tools in areas such as performance monitoring and risk prediction used extensively by NHSScotland to enhance service provision. Our Information Request teams are on hand to advise if you can't find the answers to your questions through our routine publications. See below for further details or contact the Customer Services helpdesk if you are unsure which service you require.
About Our Statistics |
Cancer Clinical Trials Service |
Data Definitions & References |
Data Protection & Confidentiality
Data Quality Assurance |
Data Recording Advisory Service |
Deprivation Reference Files |
HEAT |
Hospital Records Data Monitoring |
Information Requests |
Media Monitoring |
Medical Record Linkage | Research
Scottish Birth Record |
Scottish Health Information Service |
Scottish Health Information Service for Research |
SPARRA |
Structuring Healthcare Information |
Terminology Services and Clinical Coding
About Our Statistics
ISD is designated by legislation as a producer of official statistics and is obliged to adhere to the Code of Practice and relevant legislation. The Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 created the UK Statistics Authority and empowered it to determine, and assess compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
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Cancer Clinical Trials Service
Provides clinical trials services for oncology clinical trials.
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Data Definitions & References
National Data Standards ensure that data are collected throughout Scotland according to the same classifications and rules.
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Data Protection & Confidentiality
We follow a number of policies and procedures to ensure we look after information, and comply with our legal obligations in relation to data protection and confidentiality.
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Data Quality Assurance
Makes sure Scottish Morbidity Record (SMR) datasets are accurate, consistent and comparable across time and between sources. Also looks at non-SMR related data, for example the application of waiting times guidelines.
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Data Recording Advisory Service
An integrated service which provides support for our healthcare partners to enable them to record healthcare data consistently and accurately.
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Deprivation
Describes the choices of deprivation measure, the geographical units of measurement available, and the categorisation of the measures. Downloadable reference files are provided for analysing health data in relation to deprivation.
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HEAT
ISD supports and maintains the HEAT system, on behalf of the Scottish Government, that NHS Boards and Government use to monitor progress against targets. Information is split into the four HEAT domains: Health improvement: Efficiency and governance: Access to service: Treatment appropriate to individuals.
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Hospital Records Data Monitoring
The data monitoring team work with NHS Boards and the Independent Sector in providing timely, complete validated data to support patient care
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Information Requests
For general enquiries, Freedom of Information requests or information not published on the ISD website contact the Customer Support Desk and 0131 275 7777 or email nss.csd@nhs.net. For more details see the Information Requests page.
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Media Monitoring
The Media Monitoring service provides updates on healthcare stories appearing in newspapers and on websites. You can sign up for free to receive two email updates each weekday. We also maintain a database of older stories which contains over 50,000 records.
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Medical Record Linkage
The service provided by the Medical Record Linkage team can help you to maximise the potential of your own data by using record linkage techniques to combine your own data with existing national data.
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Research
ISD is a research active organisation. The organisation along with many of its staff is involved in research in a variety of ways.
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Scottish Birth Record
The Scottish Birth Record (SBR) is a national information support system for collection of birth information for all babies born in Scotland. It is implemented in all maternity units in Scotland for national data collection with its primary function to replace SMR11; it also has a clinical module that is increasingly being used by clinicians across Scotland.The Scottish Birth Record (SBR) is a national information support system for collection of birth information for all babies born in Scotland. It is implemented in all maternity units in Scotland for national data collection with its primary function to replace SMR11; it also has a clinical module that is increasingly being used by clinicians across Scotland.
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Scottish Health Information Service
SHIS is helping to deliver a modernised information service for NHS Scotland which will support planning, performance management, service delivery and public health. SHIS enables local analysis of nationally held data in a secure working environment, supported by ISD analytical expertise.
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Scottish Health Information Service for Research (SHIS-R)
The role of SHIS-R is to provision datasets for research and to further develop the governance surrounding use of information. It will provide a portal for knowledge about the availability of appropriate health related data; meta data on their suitability for specific research purposes; and the procedures required to gain access to and use such data.
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SPARRA
Scottish Patients at Risk of Readmission and Admission (SPARRA) is a tool developed by Information Services Division (ISD) to predict a patient's risk of being admitted to an acute hospital as an emergency in a particular year.
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Structuring Healthcare Information
More than 300 clinicians contributed to the development of 3000+ clinical data standards across 74 sets of data standards, via the National Clinical Dataset Development Programme (NCDDP) which was established in 2003 (and decommisioned on 31st March 2010).
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System Watch
System Watch is a web-based weekly update of real-time information on current and predicted activity levels across NHS Scotland. It is used by NHS boards and the Scottish Government to monitor and predict pressure on NHS services. The information available includes hospital admissions, beds occupied, NHS24 calls, ambulance call-outs, influenza data and deaths and is available at national, NHS board and hospital levels.
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Terminology Services and Clinical Coding
ISD Terminology Services provides support and guidance in the use of clinical coding and terminology to NHS Scotland and its partners through locally based training training, provision of an Advisory Service and publication of National Guidelines.
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