Percentage of All Category 1 Triaged Patients Who Received Specialist Palliative Care Within 2 Days in the 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: Patients referred to specialist palliative care (SPC) services are triaged within 1 day and prioritised according to clinical guidelines as Category 1,2 or 3. Category 1 patients are deemed to need immediate intervention by the specialist palliative care team and should be seen within 2 days. This is the number of calendar days from triaged category 1 patients to first face to face appointment with the community specialist palliative care team. Includes all patient conditions referred to community specialist palliative care services including cancer and non-cancer patients. Calculation: (number <2 days)/( all categorised cat 1 metrics)*100 and presented as a percentage(Number of Category 1 patients seen within 2 days )/(total number of category 2 patients)/100 Example: Cat 1: <2 days = 5, Cat 1: from 3-7 days = 6, Cat 1: 8-14 days = 7, Cat 1: 15+ days = 8 would be calculated as: (5)/(5+6+7+8)x100 = 19.2%

Numerator

Number of Category 1 patients seen within 2 days.

Denominator

Total number of category 2 patients.

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

Information is sourced by specialist palliative care services who forward to Business Intelligence Unit office and copy to Community Healthcare Organisation (CHO) Business Unit. Data Completeness is expected at 100%. Data quality issues are addressed as they arise.

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