The statistics on Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) Risk Assessment in England for Quarter 4 2014/15 (January to March 2015) produced by NHS England were released on 5^th June 2015 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

Please Note: that for 2015/16 the VTE data collection has moved to quarterly reporting of each month’s data from April 2015 onwards. The first Quarterly publication for 2015/16 is planned for the beginning of September 2015. Providers will continue to collect the same information (for each of three months of the quarter) but will submit the data once per quarter in accordance with the agreed submission timetables.

Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) Risk Assessment data collection – Quarter 4 2014/15 (January to March 2015)

The key results for data collected in March 2015 and Quarter 4 2014/15 overall on the number and proportion of VTE Risk Assessments carried out on adult admissions to NHS funded acute care are as follows:

March 2015:

• Of the 1.2 million adult patients admitted to NHS funded acute care in March 2015, as reported in this data collection, 96% of these received a VTE risk assessment on admission, the same as February 2015.
• In March 2015, the proportion of admissions receiving a VTE risk assessment was slightly lower for NHS acute care providers (96%) than for Independent Sector providers (99%), with NHS acute care providers carrying out around 97% of all VTE risk assessments.
• All the NHS regions (London, North of England, South of England, Midlands and East of England) achieved the 95% goal in this month: 98% for the Midlands and East and South regions and 97% for the North and London regions.
• In March 2015 there were 19 providers (12% of all providers) that were below the 95% threshold, with most of them (14 out of 19) between 90-95% that is getting closer to the NHS Standard Contract threshold. This is compared to 22 out of 27 providers in February 2015.

Quarter 4 2014/15:

• Of the 3.5 million adult patients admitted to NHS funded acute care in Quarter 4 2014/15, as reported in this data collection, 3.4 million (96%) of these received a VTE risk assessment on admission, the same percentage as in Quarter 3 2014/15.
• In Quarter 4 2014/15, the proportion of admissions receiving a VTE risk assessment was slightly lower for NHS acute care providers (96%) than Independent Sector providers (99%), with NHS acute care providers carrying out around 97% of all VTE risk assessments.
• The percentage of patients risk assessed for VTE has remained stable at 96% from Quarter 2 2013/14 to Quarter 4 2014/15.
• All the NHS regions (London, North of England, South of England, Midlands and East of England) achieved the 95% goal in this quarter: 98% for the Midlands and East and South regions and 97% for the North and London regions.
• In Quarter 4 2014/15, 91% of the providers (290 providers) carried out a VTE risk assessment for 95% or more of their admissions (the NHS Standard Contract threshold), a similar percentage (89%) in Quarter 3 2014/15 (284 providers).
• In Quarter 4 2014/15 there were 27 providers (9% of all providers) that were below the 95% threshold, with most of them (22 out of 27) between 90-95%, that is, getting closer to the NHS Standard Contract threshold. This is compared to 29 out of 34 providers in Quarter 3 2014/15.

The full data tables can be found on the NHS England website: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/vte/vte-risk-assessment-2014-15/