HES is a nation-wide dataset of all hospital admissions, recorded using computerised Patient Administration Systems. Each record is a subset of the record submitted by the provider to SUS, and so defined in the NHS Data Dictionary. It is generally issued on an annual basis, though provisional data is now issued quarterly. HES data often take longer to produce than SUS but have greater accuracy. Each record represents time under the responsibility of a specific consultant ‘finished consultant episodes’. A patient could have several episodes within one spell in hospital. There are hundreds of fields including data on maternities and augmented care for patients whose care involves the use of Intensive and High Dependency care facilities. Data include:
- NHS Number
- Full postcode
- Date of birth
- Sex
- Ethnicity (more complete with each year)
- Diagnosis fields
- Procedures fields
- Registered GP
- PCT of residence
- Date of admission
- Date of discharge
- Method of admission
- Method of discharge
HES Uses
At a national level, health service planning, monitoring activity, and assessing quality of care.
At a local level (e.g. PCT) NCWS/SUS data is more timely, and HES is mostly used to enable national comparisons and benchmarking. Comparisons can be made between areas, for example, by calculating standardised rates.
Monitoring inequalities across geographical areas, including ward level.
Issues to consider when establishing a registry:
| Why (users and purposes) | Who will handle the analyses |
| What disease | Who is taking enquiries |
| Clear case definition | Who is producing reports |
| System for reporting new events | Financial implications |
| What is to be stored | Confidentiality and ethical issues |
| What is to be reported | Maintaining quality |
