Specialised Services Quality Dashboards

For each SSQD there is a list of agreed measures for which data is to be collected. The latest full information for these measures can be found in the ‘Metrics metadata file’.

Healthcare providers, including NHS Trusts, NHS Foundation Trusts and independent providers, submit data for each of the agreed measures.

Each SSQD is ‘refreshed’ with up-to-date outcomes submitted from national data sources, and where necessary healthcare providers, on a quarterly basis.

The information provided by the SSQDs is used by NHS England specialised services commissioners to understand the quality and outcomes of services and reasons for excellent performance.

Healthcare providers can use the information to provide an overview of service quality compared with other providers of the same service.

SSQD data is also made available within the Model Health System (MHS) which enables provider organisations to undertake intra-organisation comparisons over time and inter-organisation (peer-to-peer) benchmarking of services.

Information generated from SSQDs is also used to provide assurance and feedback to regional and national clinical and quality leads, commissioners and decision-makers about the quality of care of delivered specialised services – including reasons for excellent performance as well as highlighting unwarranted variation – which can then be used to support the commissioning process, review the national service specifications, support service improvement, and reduce unwarranted variation of service for patients.

Submitting SSQD data is a contractual requirement for provider organisations commissioned to deliver specialised services by NHS England.

Data Collection Framework

Since January 2023 all provider-submitted SSQD data collections are collected on the Data Collection Framework (DCF). The SSQD data collection was previously collected on the Quality Surveillance Information System (QSIS).

The Quality Collection and Reporting System (QCRS) team run the QCRS Specialised Services Quality Dashboard (SSQD) Data Collection on the Data Collection Framework (DCF).

The DCF is a secure national data collection system hosted within the NHS England Applications platform and is already in use across the NHS to collect data from organisations that provide services to the NHS.

The DCF is used only to collect SSQD data. All collected data will be reported via the Model Health System (MHS) following each quarter’s collection. The move to Model Health System allows us to present data in more accessible visualised ways and allows providers to see their information alongside a broad range of depth of indicators. We will be providing webinars to demonstrate how to use the Model Health System early in 2023.

Model Health System

Since January 2023 all provider-submitted SSQD data collections are collected on the Data The Model Health System (MHS) is a data-driven improvement tool that supports health and care systems to improve patient outcomes and population health. It provides benchmarked insights across the quality of care, productivity and organisational culture to identify opportunities for improvement. The MHS incorporates the Model Hospital, which provides hospital provider-level benchmarking. Access to the MHS is currently available for all NHS commissioners and providers in England.

CQUIN 2023-24

The CQUIN provides the guidance for the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) scheme for 2023/4.

NHS England » 2023/24 CQUIN