Specialised services quality dashboards

Specialised Services Quality Dashboards (SSQD) are designed to provide assurance on the quality of care by collecting information about outcomes from healthcare providers. SSQDs are a key tool in monitoring the quality of services, enabling comparison between service providers and supporting improvements over time in the outcomes of services commissioned by NHS England.

For each SSQD, there is a list of agreed measures for which data is to be collected. These measures are included in a ‘Metric Definition Set’.

Healthcare providers, including NHS Trusts, NHS Foundation Trusts and independent providers, submit data for each of the agreed measures.

Each SSQD is ‘refreshed’ with up-to-date outcomes submitted from national data sources, and where necessary healthcare providers, on a quarterly basis.

The information provided by the SSQDs is used by NHS England specialised services commissioners to understand the quality and outcomes of services and reasons for excellent performance. Healthcare providers can use the information to provide an overview of service quality compared with other providers of the same service. From April 2016, SSQD data will be submitted and reviewed using a dedicated online portal. It is anticipated this will further aid both providers and commissioners.

The collection of data for the Specialised Services Quality Dashboards has been approved by the Review of Central Returns – ROCR (ROCR/OR/2230/001MAND).

Metric definition sets 2022/23

Archive metric definition sets