NACEL Northern Ireland 2024
The National Audit of Care at the End of Life, Northern Ireland (NACEL NI) has been commissioned by the Public Health Agency to run during 2024/25. The audit will evidence against the quality and outcomes of care experienced by the dying person and those important to them during the final admission to hospital. There are four elements of data collection which all 5 Health and Social Care Trusts should participate in.
For Health and Social Care Trusts; download the NACEL NI data specifications, audit guidance and promotional resources for the current audit period year below. See the audit guidance document or download the Key Dates for more detail of timescales.
Find information about copyright and IPR permission here or see the full list of guidance and outputs here.
Audit Guidance
The audit guidance document is intended to provide guidance on each aspect of NACEL for all acute and community organisations in Northern Ireland.
Policies
The Management of Outliers Policy outlines the process to identify and escalate outliers for two individual metrics from the Case Note Review.
Case Note Review
The Case Note Review collects patient level data on the deaths within the audit criteria, focusing on ten indicators of care, including recognition of dying, timely review of the dying and deceased patient, etc.
Quality Survey
The Quality Survey is an online questionnaire to be completed by bereaved person(s) of all eligible patients who died within the audit criteria. For Health and Social Care Trusts, example promotional materials are available here.
Staff Reported Measure
The Staff Reported Measure is a survey aimed at members of staff who are most likely to come into contact with dying patients and those important to them. For Trusts/Health Boards an example promotional poster is available here.
Hospital/Site Overview
Each submission will complete the Hospital/Site overview every year. This audit element will focus on access to Specialist Palliative Care Teams within the hospital/site.