The importance of data in the ‘Patient Safety Review’

Published: 09 Jul 2025

HQIP’s Chair and former NHS deputy Medical Director, Dame Celia Ingham Clark, agrees with NHS England’s Chair, Dr Penny Dash, when she says “we collect more data on quality of care than any other country…let’s use it, let’s get it out there”. Here Celia outlines why data – and clinical audit and outcomes data – will be crucial to the success of the ‘Review of patient safety across the health and care landscape’, published this week.

“Before seeing the ‘Patient Safety Review’, I read an article in The Sunday Times with Penny Dash where she explained more about its remit, setting the tone for its release a few days later. What immediately jumped out at me was her strong focus on the key role that data would play in her vision for improved patient safety.

This was evident when I saw the published version of the Review, which states: “The NHS is one of the most data-rich healthcare systems in the world and has historically been at the forefront of collecting and reviewing data for clinical audit purposes. There is considerable opportunity to build on this with more data sharing across organisations…enabling [them] to identify and focus on the most significant issues and challenges to improve care”. At HQIP, where we run the largest national clinical audit and outcomes review programme in the UK (NCAPOP) on behalf of the NHS, we have long-since advocated this sentiment.

“We collect more data on quality of care than any other country. Let’s use it, let’s get it out there,” Dr Penny Dash, NHS England Chair

The Review was by the commissioned by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, to examine the patient safety landscape and make recommendations to support improved quality of care. It is littered throughout with references to the value of data, and clinical audits (including those delivered by HQIP*), in achieving this; and rightly so.

The role of national clinical audit

National clinical audits provide independent, transparent evidence for improvements that will have maximum impact on patient care, including keeping them safe. They are trusted by healthcare providers and patients alike. The 44 audits and programmes in HQIP’s NCAPOP, identify where current practices are falling short, highlight what ‘good’ looks like, and make the case for changes that will improve and save patients’ lives. They often demonstrate that survival rates improve when certain interventions need to be delivered earlier in the care pathway.

“Data and analytics should be playing a far more significant role in supporting the quality of health and social care,” Patient Safety Review, July 2025

However, data alone is not enough; it’s the interpretation of that data that matters. Or, as the Review puts it: “insufficient use is made of the NHS’s data resources to generate insights and support improvement”. At HQIP, we understand the need to translate data into quality services. We do not simply publish data; we help healthcare providers and leaders to understand what to do with it. It’s critical that we all work together to turn insights into meaningful action.

Putting patients at the centre of patient safety

What do we mean by ‘meaningful’ (forgive the duplication here, but it’s that important)? It’s a phrase that’s often bandied about, but it is critical in relation to patient care. To me, it means delivering safe care that meets the needs of patients. Nothing more, nothing less. If it isn’t what patients want and need, then it isn’t valuable. This, too, is reflected in the Review and indeed the ‘NHS 10 Year Health Plan for England’ published days before. When care falls short, patients deserve answers and action. Importantly, HQIP works with patients to co-design its audit programmes, and ensure that recommendations for change are clear, fair and focused on outcomes. So, I was pleased to read the Review’s emphasis on working with patients to improve safety, concluding with a call to “capture and learn from user or patient experience” and involve the “voice of the user”.

Transparency, transparency, transparency

Another theme that comes across loud and clear from the Review, and other recent announcements from the DHSC, is the need for transparency. Without it, we cannot build trust. It makes perfect sense. The more that we can all see what is happening, the more we can all work together to improve. Again, HQIP’s clinical audit programme is uniquely positioned to support transparency. Through the NCAPOP, clinical data is brought into the open. Every report, finding and recommendation is publicly available for all to see and use – from clinicians and healthcare leaders through to patients and their representative groups, everyone can access the programme’s data.

I will conclude by turning my attention to the Review’s recommendations for the “revamped, revitalised and reinforced” National Quality Board (NQB) which, it states, “should be responsible for developing a comprehensive strategy to improve quality of care”. It’s telling that the very first item in the first of these recommendations is a need to build on data and analysis that supports current quality of care. It states that the NQB should “make more effective use of existing NHS data resources (including large-scale audits or registries and routine data)”. The Review goes on to say that “data and analytics should be playing a far more significant role in supporting the quality of health and social care”. This goes without saying. However, I will say it nonetheless – I couldn’t agree more.

*Review of patient safety across the health and care landscape, July 2025: “Data on the quality of care is collected through a range of mechanisms, including national clinical audits commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) and other registries and audits (such as those run by colleges, NHS England and others).”

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