An independent evaluation of the NHS Modernisation Agency's 'Modernising Endoscopy Services' project using routinely collected, service-related endoscopy data.
Aim: To independently evaluate the NHS Modernisation Agency’s “Modernising Endoscopy Services” (MES) project using routinely collected, service-related endoscopy data.Methods: A random selection of 10 sites who had participated in the MES project (called MES sites) were compared to a random selection of 10 sites who were unsuccessful applicants for the MES project but had indicated their intention to redesign independently (called Non-MES sites). Data on Referral numbers, Number of patients waiting, Number of lost appointment slotsand Activity werecollected from all 20 sites for eight specific time periods ranging from January 2003 to April 2006 to evaluate the endoscopy services of MES and Non-MES sites and to compare both site types at specific points in time using various statistical tests. Activitydata were validated where appropriate using an equivalent HES dataset. Details of innovations introduced were collected to explore possible trends.Results: Data were not routinely collected by endoscopy units. NHS Trust datasets were subsequently included to ensure a full dataset for analysis. The accuracy of the Activitydata was successfully validated. There were relatively few statistically significant results to report. Consequently, this study found that the MES project did not significantly improve the endoscopy services of the MES sites over time. It also found that there was no significant difference between the MES sites and the Non-MES sites in the improvement of their endoscopy services over time and that the Non-MES sites appeared to implement changes that led to improvements to their services, although they were not statistically significant.Conclusions: Data was not routinely collected by most NHS endoscopy units participating in this study. Based on the data analysed, the MES project did not appear to have significantly improved NHS endoscopy services over and above what could have been achieved independently with only the intention to redesig
