EARLIEST CLINICALLY APPROPRIATE DATE

EARLIEST CLINICALLY APPROPRIATE DATE  is the earliest date that it was clinically appropriate for an ACTIVITY to take place.

For the Radiotherapy Data Set, EARLIEST CLINICALLY APPROPRIATE DATE  is the:

• first date that the PATIENT would have been clinically fit to start Radiotherapy  and

• same as the DECISION TO TREAT DATE unless there was an elective delay, i.e. a clinical reason, such as the PATIENT was not fit.

For the Community Services Data Set, Mental Health Services Data Set  and Commissioning Data Sets (version 6-2 onwards), the EARLIEST CLINICALLY APPROPRIATE DATE  may be used locally to inform waiting time calculations. It can be used to account for periods of time where it is not appropriate to treat the PATIENT  for clinical reasons, for example:

• where the PATIENT  has been admitted to hospital for an unrelated condition and the SERVICE  cannot commence planned treatment until the PATIENT  has been discharged

• where the PATIENT  is frail and cannot be treated until their condition improves, but it is not appropriate to discharge the PATIENT  from the SERVICE.