Child Health
Child Health Information Team Projects
The purpose of this section is to provide detail of projects the Child Health Information Team have been involved in. These are outwith our routine reporting and information request service.
Predicting Future Uptake Rates of the MMR Vaccine
CHIT investigated a number of methods of modelling future uptake of the MMR vaccine during 2005. A simple method was developed and a more complex model, usually used to estimate cancer survival, was adapted to predict MMR uptake. The effectiveness of both methods was investigated by comparing predictions with actual uptakes for past data from the Scottish Immunisation & Recall System (SIRS). This work was presented as a poster at the Faculty of Public Health conference in June 2006.
Predictive MMR Poster 
(498KB)
Sources of Infant Feeding Data Seminar
In autumn 2005, the team organised a seminar to discuss the different sources of data on infant feeding, to identify what data are collected and how, to establish their comparability and to understand their strengths and weaknesses. To view the report on the outcomes of this seminar please click on the link below.
Sources of Infant Feeding data Seminar Report (216KB)
Further information is available on the Scottish Public Health Observatory (ScotPHO) website
In order to explore some of the issues affecting the registration of children with particular conditions on the Support Needs System, the team organised a seminar (May 2005). Clinicians associated with the Support Needs System, representatives of charitable organisations and Consultants in Public Health Medicine attended and shared valuable experience and knowledge. The seminar raised some important points and improved understanding of patient pathways in different areas of Scotland.
Child Health Systems: Effectiveness and Consistency Projects
Part of the remit of the Child Health Information Team for ISD Scotland is to develop means of improving the quality of data collected through the Child Health Surveillance systems. Good quality data is important as it enables users to have confidence in the data, ensures it reflects the true pattern of care and allows meaningful comparisons.
The Ayrshire and Arran NHS Board CHSP-PS Audit
In late 2003, a working group was set up in Ayrshire and Arran NHS Board to audit Child Health Surveillance Programme Pre School (CHSP-PS) records. This group consisted of coding staff, Health Visitors, a Paediatrician, an analyst from CHIT and members of the data quality team from ISD.
During summer 2004, ISD CHIT and the ISD Data Quality Team evaluated the completeness and validity of the information recorded by Healthcare Professionals on a ten per cent sample of paper examination forms from across Ayrshire & Arran in 2003 and the completeness and accuracy of data entered onto the CHSP-PS system.
This exercise indicated that, for the majority of fields assessed, both the validity and completeness of recordings written on paper forms and the accuracy and completeness of data entered into the electronic system were high ( > 95% valid / accurate). It also however highlighted that invalid recordings or inaccurate entries and missing data were more common for particular fields.
This was a very useful exercise through which lessons can be learned and which will inform both future practices and future audit exercises.
An overview (146kb) of this audit summarises the main processes of the audit and its findings.
Evaluating the Effectiveness of the National Special Needs Information System in Scotland.
During 2002-2004, a project to evaluate the effectiveness of the SNS was funded by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland. This evaluation included site visits to NHS Boards using SNS and to Boards using other locally devised systems to record information about children with additional support needs, qualitative questionnaire surveys of users of SNS and local systems, focus groups with parents of children with additional support needs and analysis of data held in SNS.
Full evaluation of the SNS compared to local systems was difficult because it was sometimes impossible to obtain detailed information about other procedures and / or data from other systems. Although broad insight into the relative efficiency and effectiveness of the SNS was gained, it was not possible to draw conclusions about specific aspects.
The practical parts of the project were done in 2002 and early 2003, but publication of the report was delayed until spring 2005. Since this evaluation was done, significant progress has been made with the development of the SNS - both in individual Boards and nationally. Many of the recommendations outlined in the report have been addressed: Members of the SNS National User Group (NUG) continue to collaborate to make full use of the system and further develop it; a sub-group of clinicians and external advisers identified ways in which the registration rates of children with particular conditions could be improved at a seminar in May 2005 and summary statistics of national SNS data are regularly produced by ISD. Also, the National Clinical Dataset Development Programme chose the SNS as the standard for development of a national dataset in this field. In addition, it is hoped that through collaboration with dental colleagues, the system can be used to improve the oral health of children with disability.
SNS Evaluation Report documents:
Executive Summary (47kb)
Main Report (202kb) ; Appendices (263kb)
Report for Parents (60kb)
The full report and associated documents can also be viewed on the NHS QIS website: www.nhshealthquality.org
Clinical Outcomes indicators - A focus on Children - 2003 (1.05MB)
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