NACEL 2024 – What next?

Firstly, we’d like to thank everybody who attended our warm up event a few weeks ago. We’re thrilled to have welcomed nearly 300 attendees on the call. We hope you found the session worthwhile in helping you prepare for NACEL 2024. If you’d like to rewatch any of the session, you can access the recording and slides through the warm up event page.

At the moment, NACEL registration is in full swing. Data collection for NACEL will be opening on 1st of January 2024. If you haven’t yet registered, now is the time to do so!

Before participating, it’s key to understand some of the key changes that will incorporate NACEL 2024, such as a new reporting tool to easily identify improvement with benchmarking at differing system levels and quality improvement support for audit participants.

We are also delighted to confirm that we’ve increased the accessibility of the Quality Survey. The survey of the bereaved person’s feedback is now available in the 10 main languages spoken in England and Wales, as well as English and Welsh. The translated versions of the Quality Survey can be printed and handed to people to complete. The translated surveys are available here.

You can do a number of things to prepare for NACEL 2024:

• Review the NACEL guidance notes and questionnaires, available to download from the audit guidance page of the website

• We recommend that you suspend local bereavement surveys whilst participating in the  NACEL Quality Survey.

• Consider whether you will implement the NACEL Quality Survey from the 1st of January, and how and when is best to communicate this information e.g., during the collection of the death certificate, via an electronic messaging system, posters, etc. Example Quality Survey promotional resources are available: poster, leaflet and letter.

• If your organisation has a bereavement office, we recommend contacting the team for help and advice.

• Decide whether you will distribute an online Quality Survey link/QR code, or distribute the paper version.

• Explore whether your organisation complies with the national data opt-out and where this information is stored. The national data opt-out is a service that allows patients to opt out of their confidential patient information being used for research and planning. It is the organisation’s responsibility to ensure that the appropriate patient data is submitted to the NACEL 2024 Case Note Review.

Keep an eye out for further communications to be released by the NACEL team.

If you have any questions, please contact the NACEL team here: nhsbn.nacelsupport@nhs.net

NACEL 2024 Registration Open & Upcoming Event

We are thrilled to announce the opening of registration for NACEL 2024 after a year of dedicated work on the National Audit of Care at the End of Life (NACEL) redesign.

The aim of the national data collection is to improve (where needed) the quality of care when somebody dies in an acute and community inpatient setting in England and Wales.

Register for the audit via the NHS Benchmarking Network Members' Area. NACEL 2024 is featured on NHS England’s Quality Accounts List for 2023/24.

What’s changed?

• Streamlined data collection process, particularly for the bereaved persons’ feedback

• Reduced number of questions and improved flow

• Timely reporting to support local performance reviews

• Developed a new reporting tool to easily identify improvement opportunities by benchmarking at differing system levels, from local to national, with transparency in the results

• Quality improvement support for audit participants (clinical and non-clinical colleagues at all levels)

If you need login details for the Members' Area, kindly contact the NACEL Support Team at nhsbn.nacelsupport@nhs.net. Further information can be found on our brand new home, the NACEL Portal.

Warm up event

On top of the NACEL 2024 registration opening, we are delighted to be hosting our NACEL warm-up event very soon!

Join us on Monday, 4th December (1pm - 2pm) via MS Teams. During this webinar, the NACEL Support Team will discuss the design of NACEL 2024. The session will also cover:

• Key changes to the audit design

• What you need to do

• The Quality Improvement Plan and goals

• A demonstration of the newly developed reporting tool

A Q&A session will conclude the webinar, where the support team will be happy to answer any questions and queries. The event is free to attend, and a recording will be shared with registered participants following the session. To attend the session, please complete this form, and the meeting link will be shared before the event.

For more details or any questions about registration or the event, contact the NACEL Support Team at nhsbn.nacelsupport@nhs.net.

NACEL 2024

The National Audit of Care at the End of Life (NACEL) 2024 is launching soon, and we are excited to invite organisations in England and Wales to participate in this crucial national effort.

Key changes to NACEL 2024

• More frequent data collection and reporting

• Focus on Quality Improvement activities

• Revised data points

• New reporting system

• Data and Improvement Tool

What do I need to do?

• Registration for NACEL 2024 will open on 13th November 2023. Participants will be invited to register your organisation for the redesigned audit.

• Prepare relevant teams and clinicians for the Case Note Review and Quality Survey data collection for NACEL 2024, scheduled to commence in January 2024

• The Quality Survey will require the bereavement service to invite bereaved carers to participate in the NACEL Quality Survey from January 2024 – December 2024.

  • We advise that you contact your local bereavement office to ask whether the Quality Survey can be implemented starting from the 1st of January, and how and when is best to communicate this information e.g., during the collection of the death certificate, via an electronic messaging system, posters, etc.

• Explore whether your organisation complies with the national data opt out and where this information is stored.

  • The national data opt-out is a service that allows patients to opt out of their confidential patient information being used for research and planning. It is the organisation’s responsibility to ensure that the appropriate patient data is submitted to the NACEL 2024 Case Note Review.

• Keep an eye out for further communications to be released by the NACEL team, including information about joining the NACEL 2024 Warm Up webinar on the 4th December 2023 (1pm-2pm)

What happens next?

Registration opens - 13th November 2023

Audit proposal finalised - Early November 2023

Audit guidance and data specifications released to participants - Early November 2023

Warm up webinar for participants (session will be recorded) - 4th December 2023

Data collection opens for the Case Note Review and Quality Survey - 1st January 2024

First outputs displayed on the NACEL Data and Improvement Tool - April 2024

NACEL on NHSE's 2023/24 Quality Account List:

We are pleased to inform you that NACEL is included in NHSE's 2023/24 Quality Account list. Trusts’ participation is not only encouraged but also recognised at a national level.

We invite you to register for NACEL 2024 when registration opens on 13th November 2023.

If you have any questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at nhsbn.nacelsupport@nhs.net.

NACEL 2023 Pilot

In preparation for the roll out of NACEL in 2024 and 2025, the NACEL team launched the NACEL pilot earlier this year. The aims of the pilot included:

• To evaluate whether quarterly data collection is effective.

• To evaluate whether emergency department (ED) deaths can be collected in NACEL.

• To test the target sample size for the Case Note Review collection.

• To test out the revised Case Note Review questions.

• To understand the scope and limitations of data, statistically and clinically.

• To understand and determine the most appropriate way to report.

• To understand whether the language used within the Case Note Review is applicable for the various care settings.

• To help define an IT portal for the participants.

Feedback from the pilot has been invaluable in evaluating the proposal put together for the re-designed audit. From the feedback and findings, the information was used to contribute to the final design.

We’d like to thank all the participants that took part in the pilot - your feedback and insight is invaluable to the NACEL audit.

You can find out more about the NACEL 2023 Pilot on the NHS Benchmarking Network news page.