Venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk assessment: Q1 2019/20

The venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk assessment data collection is used to inform a national quality requirement in the NHS Standard Contract for 2019/20, which sets an operational standard of 95% of inpatients (aged 16 and over at the time of admission) undergoing risk assessments each month.

The official statistics for VTE risk assessment in England for quarter 1 (Q1) 2019/20 (April to June 2019) produced by NHS Improvement were released on 4 September 2019 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

Summary of the data collection

The key results for the data collected on the number and percentage of VTE risk assessments on inpatients aged 16 and over admitted to NHS-funded acute care (NHS trusts, NHS foundation trusts and independent sector providers) in quarter 1 (Q1) 2019/20 are:

  1. England continues to achieve the 95% NHS Standard Contract threshold. Of the 3.8 million admitted inpatients aged 16 and over for whom data was reported in this collection, 3.7 million (96%) were risk assessed for VTE on admission.
  2. From Q4 2015/16 to Q4 2016/17 the percentage of inpatients risk assessed for VTE was stable at 96%. The results for Q1 2017/18 showed a reduction of 1% with 95% of patients being risk assessed for VTE and this remained static until Q4 2017/18. In Q1 2018/19 the percentage of patients being risk assessed for VTE increased to 96% but decreased again in Q2 2018/19 to 95%. In Q3 2018/19 performance increased to 96% and remained at 96% in Q4 2018/19. From April 2019 the data collection changed to include inpatients aged 16 and over at the time of admission. In Q1 2019/20 the percentage of inpatients risk assessed was 96%.
  3. In Q1 2019/20, the percentage of admitted inpatients aged 16 and over at the time of admission risk assessed for VTE was 96% for NHS acute care providers and 98% for independent sector providers. NHS acute care providers carried out about 97% of all VTE risk assessments.
  4. Six regions (North East and Yorkshire, North West, Midlands, East of England, London and South East) achieved the 95% NHS Standard Contract operational standard in Q1 2019/20. The South West did not meet the operational standard and risk assessed 94.7% of inpatients.
  5. In Q1 2019/20, 80% of providers (240 of the 299 providers) carried out a VTE risk assessment for 95% or more of their admissions (the NHS Standard Contract operational standard). This breaks down as 72% of NHS acute providers (106 of 147) and 88% of independent sector providers (134 of 152).
  6. Of the 59 providers (20%) that did not achieve the 95% operational standard in Q1 2019/20, 76% (45 of 59) risk assessed between 90% and 95% of total admissions for VTE.