Routine Data SDL Flashcards
What are the 2 sources of data that are used by practitioners and researchers to understand the world around them?
- raw data collected expressly in the pursuit of knowledge through direct observation
- routinely collected data
What is routinely collected data?
- data collected routinely by organisations as part of
their day-to-day activities - usually captured for the purpose of oversight by government or a statutory body who is obliged to collect information so that they can be accountable to their stakeholders
What is meant by a ‘data set’?
- a list of fields, population with data of a pre-agreed format
- this set is applied across all the places from where data are collected
Give examples of when routine data collected for financial reasons
- NHS admission recorded so that costs can be attributed to the CCG
- decennial census, allows planning of public services
Describe the advantages and disadvantages of the two types of data
- capturing primary data is expensive, slow and time consuming. But data collected is tailored and you have control over its quality.
- routinely collected data not tailored to your area of interest, the data may have usage restrictions to protect confidentiality, may be captured by people who may not be qualified, or indeed motivated,
- routine data has little or no cost, quick and cheap, can set out with a clear hypothesis to test the conventional empirical fusion, but also you can explore the data in ways that are hypothesis generating
What is meant by the spatial dimension?
- research should be clear about the population to which it refers
- very often we define our study population as the population of a particular area
Give an example of when geography will be important to explore a non-geographical variable
e. g. the socioeconomic status of a research subject
- rather then asking them how ell off they are, you could infer this from the characteristics of the neighbourhood where they live
What is meant by geographical units?
postcodes, counties, constituencies
- must be well understood by anyone working with routinely collected data
What information can be gather from the census?
- running since 1841, every 10 years
- level of the individual and household
- can see data on population structure/density, ethnicity, religion, housing, commuting habits, migration, changes over time
What is the smallest geographical area for which data are available?
census output area
What is a super output area?
- designed to improve reporting of small group areas statistics
- built from groups of OAs
What are structural levels of the NHS in England?
- NHS commissioning regions x4
- NHS area teams x25
- Clinical commissioning groups
What are the structural levels of the NHS in Scotland?
- scottish government
- health boards
- community health partnerships
What are the structural levels of the NHS in Wales?
- NHSWD regional offices
- local health boards
What are the structural levels of the NHS in Northern Ireland?
- single health and social care board
- local commissioning groups x5
Where can the list of NHS organisation codes be found?
Organisation Codes Service of the NHS Information Centre
What type of data stets are routinely collected by the NHS?
- community
- maternity/childrens
- commissioning
- diagnostic imaging
- mental health services
- psychological therapies
- renal
- speciality list
- workforce
- NHS health direct
- emergancy care
Why are postcodes useful in healthcare geography?
- every postcode has a small geographical area associate with it, with a definable central point
- can locate address and find out its electoral ward, a Local Authority or a CCG
- can be used to map water borne infectious outbreaks or airborne exposure paths of pollution clouds
Why is routine data used in standardising calculations?
- Standardising is done to adjust for the effect of age and sex of the population on incidence, prevalence, mortality, probability of cure etc.
- Need to know the size of the at risk population in order to do this
Describe the two ways people can be allocated to groups based on their socioeconomic status
- ask them a set of questions designed to find out what their circumstances are
- estimate them based on where they live
What are the advantages of estimating socioeconomic stats based on where someone lives?
- neighbourhoods in the UK tend to be quite homogeneous, particularly if you use geography such as lower level super output areas
- if you can capture someone’s postcode of residence you can attribute them to almost any geography you like
What are the 5 scores used to estimate socioeconomic status?
- Townsend Score
- Carstairs Score
- Jarman Score
- Indexes of Multiple Deprivation
- Socio-economic Status at the Level of the Individual
What four variables comprise the Townsend score?
- unemployment
- non car ownership
- non home ownership
- household overcrowding
The greater the score the greater the degree of deprivation
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Townsend score?
Advantages
- widely accepted, simple to understand, widely used
Disadvantages
- uses census data so can be out of date
- measures deprivation not affluence, so only measures the number of deprived people living in an area, even if overall there are more affluent people
e.g. a middle class population with have a lower score than an affluent area with some converted flats