Unlocking data to inform public health policy and practice: University of Sheffield

Background

Routinely collected data is key to ensuring effective and responsive decision-making in Local Authorities’ (LAs’) commissioning of social care and some public health services, and in their collaborations with Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) as the commissioners of most NHS services. Both parties are obliged to consider the within and cross-sector ‘value for money’ aspect of their commissioning decisions, including opportunity costs of alternative options in terms of beneficial outcomes relative to their costs - such aspects can be accounted for within economic evaluation (EE) frameworks.

When using routine data to inform such decision-making there is a need to: (1) identify the data required to inform the commissioning process; (2) account for legal and information governance frameworks for storing, using, and sharing data, alongside other barriers and facilitators; (3) establish evaluation frameworks to enable the data to be used in transparent and useful ways, aligned to the requirements of the commissioning process.

Aim and work-packages (WPs)

To delineate the availability and potential of routinely collected data to support commissioning decisions within and across sectors including LAs, CCGs, and Universities, in order to improve public health in local and regional settings. Through four WPs and by fostering networks and partnership activities between academic research and public health practice, our objectives are:

WP1: Mapping review of use and linkage of routine data in local/regional settings for commissioning decisions informed by LAs in England; WP2: Metadata specification and pilot metadata catalogue through stakeholder consultation; WP3: Workshops with stakeholder groups to explore the requirements of routine data to inform commissioning;

WP4: Economic evaluation methods to analyse and present estimates from routine data to inform commissioning. Methods

For WP1 we will search and then map the grey literature for examples of routine data being used to inform public health decision-making, used to inform WP2-WP4. In WP2, by working with key stakeholder representatives, we will develop a metadata specification and pilot metadata catalogue listing data assets from across all stakeholders with a focus on data and services associated with public health.

Outputs from WP1&2 will inform WP3’s series of workshops with stakeholder groups to explore the requirements, use, barriers, and facilitators of routine data to inform commissioning processes. Building on WP1-3, WP4 will explore and describe how quantitative methods informed by routine data can be applied to improve both the relevance and scope of EE to inform local commissioning. WP3&4 will focus on cross-sector commissioning of services specific to falls prevention.

Timeline & outputs

The project will be completed in 10 months. Outputs include: a report and slide deck; lay and technical executive summaries; metadata specification and pilot metadata catalogue; data extracts of the case studies. Dissemination & anticipated impact

Findings will be disseminated locally, regionally and nationally through our extensive networks. This will initiate more evidence-based commissioning decisions through utilisation of routine data, stimulating joint working across LAs, CCGs, and universities, with support from NIHR infrastructure, with learnings for national change leading to more efficient allocation of scarce resources benefitting public health.