Table 3.

Summary of NHS output data sources, 1998/1999–2013/2014

Output type1	Year	Activity source	Cost source	Quality	Notes
Inpatient	1998/1999–2013/2014	HES	RC	30‐day survival health	The quality adjustors are
				outcomes waiting times	calculated from HES
Outpatient	1998/1999–2010/2011,	RC	RC	Average waiting	Waiting times up until
	2013/2014			time (weeks)	and including 2009/2010
					were provided by
					the Department of Health,
					National Inpatient and
					Outpatient waiting times,
					England
	2011/2012	OPMD			For 2009/2010 onwards,
					we use the HES Outpatient
					Minimum Dataset
Mental health	1998/2009–2013/2014	HES and RC	RC	30‐day survival
				Health outcomes
				Waiting times	Quality adjustment applied
					to Hospital Mental Health
					activity only
Community care	1998/1999–2013/2014	RC	RC	n/a
Primary care	1998/1999–2003/2004	General Household	PSSRU's Unit	n/a
		Survey	Costs of
			Health and
			Social Care
	2003/2004–2008/2009	QResearch		Prevalence and achievement
				rates in reducing blood
				pressure for patients with
				CHD, stroke and hypertension
				(Quality Outcome Framework)
	2008/2009– 2013/2014	GP Patient Survey
Prescribing	1998/1999–2013/2014	PPA	PPA	n/a	Switched from using BNF
					chapters to chemical
					composition in 2008/2009
Ophthalmology	1998/1999–2013/2014	HSCIC	HSCIC	n/a
and dentistry
Other NHS activity	1998/1999–2013/2014	RC	RC	n/a

^HES, Hospital Episode Statistics; RC, reference costs; OPMD, outpatient minimum dataset; PSSRU, Personal Social Services Research Unit; PPA, Prescription Pricing Authority; BNF, British National Formulary; CHD, coronary heart disease; HSCIC, Health and Social Care Information Centre.