About the indicators

We asked each of our specialties to specify three measurements that would provide us with information about clinical performance. We requested that these should ideally

• be measures of clinical outcome rather than clinical process
• be measures that can allow comparison with other hospitals
• be measured monthly, quarterly or annually
• include an improvement metric focused on an area in which we need to do better

We asked for a brief description of each metric and an explanation as to why it is useful. We also wanted to know what level of performance would be acceptable as a basic standard and what would represent excellent performance, consistent with the trust’s governing objective to be in the top ten percent of healthcare organisations.

In addition, we agreed nine trust-wide corporate metrics, three in clinical service, three in research and innovation and three in education and training. This reflects our mission to deliver world-class performance in each of these three areas.

In response our clinician teams submitted a wide range of clinical metrics. Many of these reflect clear clinical outcomes such as patient survival. However, specialties in which it is hard to develop pure outcome metrics have instead proposed process metrics they believe also influence patient outcomes. A number of the metrics concern patient experience. Many of the metrics use data that the trust already collects, but some have required the establishment of new data collection.

To benchmark metrics against other organisations and to determine what constitutes basic and excellent performance, specialties have, wherever possible, used published data from audits, surveys or research. In some cases this has not been possible and clinicians have based their assessment on their own experience and judgment.

The trust’s clinical performance committee monitors the performance metrics on a regular basis. If you have any queries about the metrics please contact: rf.mediaenquiries@nhs.net