Referral To Treatment Summary Patient Tracking List Data Set Overview
   Related DDCN/DSCN/ISN

Referral to Treatment Summary Patient Tracking List to support delivery of 18 week waiting times

The national 18 Week Summary Patient Tracking List is intended to collect a set of performance information about PATIENTS with active REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIODS that are nearing the 18 week target date. Its main purpose is to focus on those PATIENTS that may potentially breach the 18 week target, providing a structure which enables the most 'at risk' PATIENTS to be clearly identified. The 18 Week Referral to Treatment Summary Patient Tracking List does not cover all the components of a Patient Tracking List that individual Providers and Commissioners may wish to develop and share - especially at PATIENT level. The sharing of any extended data sets between Providers and Commissioners is subject to local arrangements. Examples of patient-level data sets developed during piloting of this central return, are available from the Department of Health 18 week website (address below).

For most PATIENTS the start of a REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIOD begins with a GP REFERRAL REQUEST to a CONSULTANT in secondary care. In addition this data set also covers REFERRAL REQUESTS to CONSULTANTS from:

Referrals to nurse consultants and allied health professionals are currently out of scope for 18 weeks Referral To Treatment monitoring.

Guidance on the measurement of REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIODS, 18 week clock rules, and Frequently Asked Questions, are all available from the Department of Health 18 week website. Additional Frequently Asked Questions about 18 weeks are also available from the NHS Data Model and Dictionary website.

The Referral to Treatment Summary Patient Tracking List is in three parts, as follows:

Parts 1A and 1B: Patients where the intent is to treat in an outpatient setting (including PATIENTS where it has not yet been decided whether to admit for treatment or treat in outpatients)

Part 1A should be completed for PATIENTS without a DECISION TO ADMIT for treatment, who have not had an ACTIVITY that ends the REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIOD (such as their first definitive treatment, a decision to start active monitoring, or who did not attend their first APPOINTMENT)

AND either

a. do not have a future APPOINTMENT where the anticipated REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIOD STATUS is 30

OR

b. do have a future APPOINTMENT where the anticipated REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIOD STATUS is 30, but not earlier than the REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIOD BREACH DATE.

Part 1B should be completed for PATIENTS without a DECISION TO ADMIT for treatment, who have not had an ACTIVITY that ends the REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIOD (such as their first definitive treatment, a decision to start Active Monitoring, or who did not attend their first APPOINTMENT)

AND

whose REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIOD BREACH DATE has been reached.

Note that parts 1A and 1B of the 18 Week Referral To Treatment Summary Patient Tracking List are required for submission from 6 January 2008 onwards.

Parts 2A and 2B: Patients where the intent is to admit for treatment

Part 2A should be completed for PATIENTS with a DECISION TO ADMIT for treatment, who have not had an ACTIVITY that ends the REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIOD (such as their first definitive treatment, a decision to start Active Monitoring, or who did not attend their first APPOINTMENT)

AND either

a. do not have an agreed OFFERED FOR ADMISSION DATE with an anticipated REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIOD STATUS of 30

OR

b. do have an agreed OFFERED FOR ADMISSION DATE with an anticipated REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIOD STATUS of 30, but not earlier than the REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIOD BREACH DATE.

Part 2B should be completed for PATIENTS with a DECISION TO ADMIT for treatment, who have not had an ACTIVITY that ends the REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIOD (such as their first definitive treatment, a decision to start Active Monitoring, or who did not attend their first APPOINTMENT)

AND

whose REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIOD BREACH DATE has been reached.

Note that Parts 2A and 2B of the 18 Week Referral To Treatment Summary Patient Tracking List are required for submission from July 2007 onwards.

Part 3 - Patients with a clock stop in the last week (who have either been treated, or whose REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIOD ended for other reasons).

This section should be completed for PATIENTS with a REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIOD END DATE within the last 7 days.

Note that within Part 3 of the 18 Week Referral To Treatment Summary Patient Tracking List, the three data elements relating to admitted PATIENTS are required for submission from July 2007 onwards; the other three data elements relating to non-admitted PATIENTS are required for submission from 6 January 2008 onwards.

Full guidance on the completion and submission of the 18 Week Referral To Treatment Summary Patient Tracking List, including calculation of waiting times, is available from the Department of Health 18 week website at:
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Statistics/Performancedataandstatistics/18WeeksReferraltoTreatmentstatistics/index.htm