Does the patient’s ICD10 code for Diabetes need to be in the primary position?
No – this can be in any position
On the patient identifier spreadsheet you are asking for the details of the consultant surgeon who performed the operation, if this was not a consultant whose name should be on the patient identifier spreadsheet?
Please put the name of the consultant surgeon who was responsible for the patient at the time of their admission.
Are you only including patients who have had a major surgery?
Yes - we have provided a list of minor OPCS codes which should be excluded. It has come to our attention that the minor OPCS exclusion list is not an exhaustive list; where possible please remove minor procedures, such as U codes which are for diagnostics and imaging. If you are unsure which codes should be removed please add them to the spreadsheet and we will be able to filter them out once we have received your spreadsheet.
The minor procedures list does not cover all minor procedures (e.g. diagnostic and imaging codes), should we only include the ones on the list provided?
It has come to our attention that the minor OPCS exclusion list is not an exhaustive list; where possible please remove minor procedures, such as U codes which are for diagnostics and imaging. If you are unsure which codes should be removed please add them to the spreadsheet and we will be able to filter them out once we have received your spreadsheet.
Which hospitals should be taking part in this study?
All acute hospitals and independent hospitals which provide surgical services should be taking part.
Community and mental health hospitals will not be submitting any data for this study.
Are patients who are admitted as day cases included in this study?
No – we are only including patients who have had at least one night stay in hospital post surgery.
What is the study period for this study?
1st February 2017 – 31st March 2017
If the patient has been admitted multiple times during the study period, should each admission be recorded in the patient identifier spreadsheet?
Yes - please record each admission on a separate line
If the patient has had multiple procedures during the same admission, should each procedure be recorded in the patient identifier spreadsheet?
No – if multiple procedures occur within the same admission please put all procedure codes into one line. Patients should only be listed more than once on a separate line if they were admitted to hospital more than once.
What are the exclusion criteria for this study?
We are not including day cases, patients admitted for a minor surgery (see list of OPCS codes provided on study web page) and obstetric cases.
Some of our patients do not have NHS numbers, what should we do?
It is fine to leave out the NHS number for private hospitals where this is not available or if for all hospitals the patient was an overseas resident.
We are unable to provide the anaesthetist’s details on the patient identifier spreadsheet as this is not recorded on our PAS system
That’s fine; we will be able to obtain this information from you later once we have selected the cases included for the study.
