Intention for Publication on 27 May 2008.

This is a statement under the National Statistics Code of Practice about a change to the pre-announced publication of waiting times statistics on the 27 May 2008.

The NHS has been engaged since 1 January 2008 in the implementation of new waiting list rules and definitions, involving changes to patient administration system modules dealing with waiting lists for outpatient appointments and admissions to hospital as inpatients or day cases.  This is a very complex project, which relies upon thousands of NHS staff who administer NHS appointments and admissions in Scotland.  The aim is that the more detailed evidence from this system will make the process (or pathway) of waiting more transparent to the public and be inclusive of patients who formerly would have been excluded from waiting times standards.

The introduction of these new systems in hospitals has gradually gathered pace, while the normal administration of attendance/admission service to patients has been fully maintained.  Given the level of new data collection involved, some impact on the quality of data was expected as the 'New Ways' of recording patient activity and waiting times were implemented over the first quarter of January to March 2008.  The 'New Ways' systems now being implemented by Boards provide new information about patient waits for hospital care, which will be more easily understood and transparent for the public and for health service professionals.

On 1^st May 2008, ISD published a paper¹ setting out summary options for the first publication of waiting times data from the New Ways² data warehouse.   This was necessary in light of the possibility of some impact on data quality for the first outputs from the new data collection.

The options, considered appropriate under the requirements of National Statistics, were:

• Publish all planned statistics
• Publish provisional statistics
• Delay publication

The decision on the option to be followed was taken yesterday, Monday 19 May, by the Director of ISD after consideration of the data quality assurance evidence supplied to ISD by NHS Boards, alongside ISD and Scottish Government Health Directorate quality assessments.

It has been decided to proceed with the publication of provisional waiting times statistics on the pre-announced publication date of May 2008. 

This means that on 27 May 2008 a proportion of the published statistics will be marked as 'provisional', as they are not yet finalised and may be subject to change.   The publication of some provisional statistics is not unusual within ISD statistical releases.   Some of the new statistics will not be published at this time, as they require some further work in order to improve their reliability.  

In line with National Statistics requirements, the intention is to publish as much of the planned information as is feasible on 27 May, with caveats as appropriate.   Information on quality assessment will also be provided. 

ISD will publish revised figures at a later date.  An announcement will be made in early July 2008, after consultation with NHS Boards about the required timescales.

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