Percentage of Patients Triaged Within One Working Day of Referral (Community)

Identifying Attributes

Care Settings
Palliative Care
Country
Ireland
Publishing Organisation
Health Service Executive (HSE) Performance Reports
Type of Quality Indicator
Process
IOM Quality Dimension
Timeliness
Domain
Structure and Processes of Care

Defining Attributes

Definition

Rationale: To determine the percentage of referred patients triaged within the time-frame of one working day. This is the calculation of the number of patients triaged within one working day of receipt of referral by the specialist palliative care community team expressed as a percentage of the total number of referrals received by the specialist palliative care community team in the reporting month. The services submit the number of patients triaged within one working day of referral and the total number of patient referrals received by specialist palliative care in the reporting month, the percentage is calculated by the Business Intelligence Unit.

Definitions: One working day is defined as close of business of the next normal working day after receipt of referral (i.e. excluding weekends and Bank Holidays). Triage is defined as the examination of the patient referral form, patient notes, scans and reports to ascertain the appropriate time-frame for delivery of specialist palliative care in the community. All patients are triaged and categorised as per clinical need. Re referrals: If a patient has been discharged and is referred for service a second time in the month then the patient is to be counted as a new referral in the triaged numbers.

Numerator

Count of the number of patients triaged within one working day of referral/request for transfer.

Denominator

All patients referred/requesting transfer in the reporting month.

Exclusions
Use of Risk Adjustment
No
Risk Adjustments
Stratifications

Reporting is aggregated at the national, Community Healthcare Organisation (CHO) and Local Health Office (LHO) level.

Data Attributes

Type of Data Collection
Standardised clinical data
Data Collection Methods

Data is sourced by the specialist palliative care community teams who collate locally and forward to their Community Healthcare Organisation (CHO). The CHO submits the validated data to the Business Information Unit (BIU) Community Healthcare Team.

Frequency of Data Collection
Monthly
Frequency of Data Collection in Days
30
Reporting Methods

Public reporting.

Reporting Frequency
Quarterly
Reporting Frequency in Days
91
Indicator Has Recommended Targets
Yes

Source and Reference Attributes

Technical Specifications

Unable to locate full specifications. Some details are available here: www.hse.ie/eng/services/publications/kpis/2024-palliative-care-services-nsp-metadata.pdf

Link to Measurement Tools
Quality Indicator Confirmed to be Part of a Program Used to Monitor Quality and Safety of Care Among Older People at a Population-Level between 2012-2022
Yes
Assessed by the Australian Consortium for Aged Care Collaborators as Generally Containing Good Properties (Importance and Scientific Acceptability)
Yes
Australian Consortium for Aged Care Endorsed
No
Identified by PHARMA-Care Project
No
Upload Date
12 March 2025