Dear Scott,
We have completed a compliance review of Public Health Scotland (PHS)’s statistics on inpatient, day case and outpatient stage of treatment waiting times against the standards of the Code of Practice for Statistics. The review considered whether these statistics continue to meet the standards of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value and should retain their accredited official statistics status.
Based on the findings of the review, we conclude that the statistics continue to comply with the Code and should retain their accredited official statistics designation. We welcome the improvements that PHS has made, including the move to monthly reporting and the transparent implementation of revised waiting time definitions. The review also identifies a small number of areas where further action is needed, particularly around supporting users to understand comparability over time, clarifying how these statistics relate to similar measures across the UK, and strengthening transparency and central control over pre-release access.
We note that PHS is already progressing work to ensure full compliance with the updated Code of Practice for Statistics (Code 3.0), and we welcome the commitment to embed these requirements as part of ongoing development of the statistics.
I am grateful for the constructive engagement from your team throughout the review and look forward to receiving an update on progress against the recommendations.
I am copying this letter to Mairi Watson, Information Consultant for Planned Care Waiting Times Analytical Team.
Yours sincerely,
Siobhan Tuohy‑Smith
Assessment Programme Lead
Office for Statistics Regulation
Related:
Letter from Scott Heald to Ed Humpherson: NHS stage of treatment waiting times statistics