The online questionnaire system is a platform where NCEPOD clinical and organisational questionnaires can be completed online. It provides Local Reporters with an up-to-date overview of the questionnaires allocated to their Trust/Health Board for any given study and the progress of each assignment i.e. what has been assigned, started and completed. The online system also gives Local Reporters full control over the dissemination of questionnaires in their Trust/Health Board.

All Local Reporters and clinicians/persons involved in disseminating/completing/submitting questionnaires will be invited to register an online account.

Once Local Reporters are activated on the online system by NCEPOD, a registration link will be sent via email. When clicked on, the link will generate a registration screen where an online account can be set up by creating a username and password. Any assignments allocated to a Trust/Health Board will then be waiting in the online account to be disseminated.

For clinicians/persons invited by Local Reporters to complete a clinical questionnaire, a link to register an online account will be generated when the Local Reporter makes the request for data. The registration link (included in the automated email) will take the user to a page where an online account can be set up by creating a username and password. Any questionnaires that have been assigned by the Local Reporter to the user can then be accessed and completed online.

Once study questionnaires are allocated to a Trust/Health Board, the Local Reporter will be notified via email that assignments are waiting to be disseminated to the relevant clinicians/persons. To disseminate an assignment, the relevant clinician/person’s email address needs to be populated in the field next to the questionnaire. An email will then be sent to the clinician/person who has been assigned the questionnaire with a link to a digital copy of the questionnaire.

Local Reporters can monitor the progress made by the assigned clinicians completing the questionnaires using the online system.
When logging onto the system, under the “clinical questionnaires” tab is a dashboard summary of the outstanding questionnaires. Selecting a study topic will open a list of all the questionnaire assignments that have been allocated for completion within the Trust/ Health board. From here, it is possible to invite clinicians to complete the questionnaire, send reminders or revoke their invitation.

Additionally, once the relevant copies of case note extracts have been obtained, copied and returned to NCEPOD, it is possible here to indicate that notes have been returned and the medium by which this has happened i.e.: by post, secure email. Upon receipt of the notes by NCEPOD, the case note status will be updated to reflect this.

Who can complete and submit questionnaires?

Clinical questionnaires can be completed and submitted by the clinician/person responsible for filling them out. Local Reporters do not have access to the content of the questionnaire.

Organisational questionnaires can be completed by Local Reporters and anyone they allocate the questionnaire to. Local Reporters have ultimate control over submitting organisational questionnaires when they have been completed.