Following the publication of the new, re-validated ERIC data for 2016/17 on February 16, the published data is now available via the Model Hospital portal. Every organisation is able to download or print its own dashboard from the portal. The data is also available via the NHS Digital website.
The Model Hospital enables Estates and Facilities teams to gain a better understanding of their running costs and to identify where potential savings are possible. Whilst most organisations are using the Model Hospital, there are some that aren’t and it is recommended that they do so. NHS Trusts can register on the portal at https://model.nhs.uk.
The re-validated ERIC figures show a net decrease in costs of £233m compared to the data originally submitted, but still reveal an increase in costs over 2015/16. Cleaning and patient catering costs have both increased, as has backlog maintenance. (Click here for our summary of the re-validated ERIC data).
In a letter to Directors of Estates & Facilities, Simon Corben, Head of Profession has once again stressed the importance of the accuracy of the ERIC data collection and states that there continues to be room for improvement. “While the data has had to be re-collected due to errors found in the original collection, it should be noted that data quality in this dataset remains sub-optimal.”
As an example, Corben quotes the figures for landfill cost per tonne, which ranges from £0 to £6,279.
Further analysis of these re-validated figures is necessary to establish whether costs are truly rising, whether the increase in costs is representative of a more accurate data set than previously and whether there are still elements of mis-reporting influencing the results.
NHS Improvement has also issued new draft data definitions, which are more explicit about the costs that should and shouldn’t be included. It is clear that different interpretations from one Trust to another, as a result of definitions that are at times vague, has been a problem contributing to lack of consistency and accuracy of the ERIC results. Better definitions are therefore necessary, however, changing data definitions means that costs are still not being compared like-for-like, which inevitably means there will be fluctuations from one year to the next until the position stabilises.
