NACEL 2025 Figures Data Pack

Understanding how your organisation's data compares requires context. The NACEL 2025 Figures Data Pack has been published on the portal to provide exactly that, offering a national picture of case ascertainment, submission rates, and variation across acute and community hospital settings for 2025. Whether you are reviewing your own data or preparing for NACEL 2026, the pack is a useful reference point for understanding where your organisation sits within the wider national picture.

Click below to view the data pack:

Staff Reported Measure Closing + Audit Halfway Point

Reminder: The Staff Reported Measure element of the audit will close on Tuesday, 30th June 2026.

We encourage you to begin sharing the survey with members of inpatient staff who are likely to come into contact with dying patients and those important to them as soon as possible. Guidance and promotional materials can be found on our guidance page.  Please note that any submission without any Staff Reported Measure surveys received will be flagged as an outlier due to partial non-participation in line with the NACEL 2026 Management of Outliers Policy.

We are now at the halfway year point of the audit. Please continue submitting data to all open data elements, including the Case Note Review and the Bereavement Survey. You can retrospectively add more Case Note Reviews to previous quarters. Please be mindful of the data reporting timescales on the DIT and all key dates here.

Click below to view the data specifications for all elements

Patient and Carer Tool and Upcoming QI Events

Round 2 Correspondence

Earlier this month, the second round of communications regarding the upcoming public release of site-level NACEL data was sent to all project leads, deputy project leads, Chief Executives, and Medical Directors at sites in England. Colleagues in Wales will receive this information in the near future.

A range of supporting resources are now available on the NACEL portal to help your organisation prepare, under the Engaging with the Patient and Carer Tool section.

Click below to access the resources:

QI Webinar - Improving Patient and Carer Experience

Join us for a highly anticipated QI webinar looking at how to improve patient and carer experience in preparation for the release of the Patient and Carer Tool, showcasing a subset of NACEL data to the public. The agenda is now found on the registration form. This live webinar is for healthcare professionals only (no public attendees) but will be available for public view on the website after the event. This session will take place on Thursday, 18th June 12-1:30pm via Microsoft Teams.

Click below to register:

Patient and Carer Tool Drop In Session

Join us for the next drop in session focusing on Phase 2 of the Patient and Carer Tool which will take place on Tuesday, 12:30-13:30, 21st July 2026 via Microsoft Teams. The June drop-in session recording can be found here.

Click below to register:

NACEL 2025 Figures Data Pack Now Available

The NACEL 2025 Figures Data Pack has been published, providing organisations with a national picture of case ascertainment, submission rates, and variation across acute and community hospital settings for 2025. The pack is intended to help organisations understand how their own data sits within the wider national context — whether they are reviewing performance for 2025 or preparing ahead of NACEL 2026.

About the Data Pack

The Figures Data Pack draws on data submitted as part of the 2025 audit cycle, covering Case Note Reviews (CNRs), Bereavement Surveys, Staff Reported Measures, the Hospital/Site Overviews, and the Annual Death Data Collection. It spans both acute and community hospital settings and presents variation across submissions to support meaningful comparison.

Key Findings

Submission volumes

In 2025, a total of 19,705 Case Note Reviews, 5,994 Bereavement Surveys,14,406 Staff Reported Measures, and 232 Hospital/Site Overviews were submitted. This continues the strong growth in participation seen across the NACEL dataset since 2018.

Case Note Review submission rates

The average number of CNRs submitted per organisation in 2025 was 83, a slight decrease from 87 in 2024. There is notable variation in submission volume across organisations, with some submissions considerably above and below the mean.

Against the national target of 90% of eligible sites (sites with at least 80 eligible deaths in the year) submitting at least 80 CNRs, 86% of sites nationally (149 out of 174 with 80 or more eligible deaths) met this threshold. Acute sites performed strongly at 88% (139/158), while community sites were below target at 63% (10/16).

Bereavement Survey submission rates

The average number of Bereavement Surveys submitted per organisation in 2025 was 25, down from 30 in 2024. As with CNRs, there is wide variation across submissions, and a significant number of organisations received zero responses during the year.

Case ascertainment

Nationally, the mean case ascertainment rate was 27%, with an interquartile range of 11% to 31% and an upper whisker of 66%. There is a marked difference between site types: community sites recorded a considerably higher mean ascertainment of 71% (interquartile range 43%–82%) compared with 15% for acute sites (interquartile range 10%–26%). Two community submissions recorded 0% case ascertainment meaning they had zero elideaths in the year and are excluded from the charts.

Bereavement Survey engagement

67% of all submissions (157 out of 236) received at least one Bereavement Survey response. Of the submissions that completed the Annual Death Data Collection, 77% (165/214) reported participating in the Bereavement Survey during 2025. Of this group, 88% (145/165) received at least one response.

Looking Ahead

Understanding where your organisation sits within the national picture is an important step in reviewing performance and identifying areas for development. The pack is a useful reference point for teams preparing for NACEL 2026, with data collection now open for care delivered in hospitals from January to December 2026.

If you have any questions about the data pack, please contact the NACEL team.

NACEL Returns to the Community Hospitals Association Conference 2026

The National Audit of Care at the End of Life (NACEL) team were delighted to attend the Community Hospitals Association (CHA) Conference on 7–8 May 2026 for the second consecutive year, offering a valuable opportunity to connect with colleagues across the community hospital sector.

Representing NACEL at this year’s event were Joylin Brockett, Senior Delivery Manager, and Mary Miller, Clinical Lead. Across the two days, they engaged with delegates from across the UK, contributing to a vibrant and collaborative environment that showcased the passion, commitment and energy within community hospitals. Strong engagement from attendees reflected the sector’s continued drive to deliver high-quality, compassionate care closer to home.

A Vital Role for Community Hospitals

There are currently 365 community hospitals with inpatient beds across the UK, and the conference highlighted a growing appetite within these settings to expand and strengthen their role in delivering high-quality, local care.

Community hospitals are uniquely positioned to support the ambitions set out in the NHS 10-Year Plan, particularly the “Hospital to Home” agenda, by providing care within local communities, supporting patients and those important to them at crucial moments.

The Value of NACEL Data

NACEL data continues to play an important role in supporting community hospitals in discussions with local neighbourhood teams and wider system partners. The audit’s insights provide robust evidence to inform decision-making and strengthen collaboration across healthcare systems.

Encouragingly, findings from NACEL in 2024 and 2025 demonstrated that community hospitals deliver care at least as good as and often better than acute hospital settings for patients at the end of life. These results provide reassurance and confidence for community hospital teams, patients, families and colleagues across acute services alike. Patients discharged to community hospitals can expect very good quality care, alongside valued support for those close to them.

Sharing Learning and Driving Improvement

During the conference, Joylin and Mary delivered two workshops showcasing the NACEL results tool and wider elements of the audit, attended by more than 40 delegates. They also facilitated three additional workshops, creating space for knowledge sharing, discussion and peer learning.

In addition, Mary delivered a plenary lecture to approximately 100 attendees, further highlighting the importance of end-of-life care quality and the role of audit data in driving improvement.

Looking Ahead

The NACEL team looks forward to continuing its collaboration with the Community Hospitals Association and supporting the sector in highlighting and strengthening the excellent work being carried out across community hospitals in the UK.

Events such as the CHA Conference reinforce the critical role of community hospitals in the healthcare system and the value of working together to ensure high-quality care at the end of life for all.