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F266

Enhancing the use analysis and dissemination of healthcare information

Mid Staffs Inquiry · Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry · Issued 6 February 2013 · Addressed to: Department of Health and Social Care

Government responseDepartment of Health and Social Care: Accepted (Nov 2013)

DeliveryDHSC and NHS England say in progress (Feb 2026)Department of Health and Social Care says in progress (Feb 2015)

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

In designing the methodology for such statistics and their presentation, the Department of Health, the Information Centre, the Care Quality Commission and the specialty organisations should seek and have regard to the views of patient groups and the public about the information needed by them.

Mid Staffs Inquiry, Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry · 6 Feb 2013 Source PDF →

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England reported in February 2026 that NHS England frequently conducts public consultations on key statistical reports, data released, and proposed changes to data collection methods to allow public feedback on how patient statistics are collected and used (DHSC and NHS England, Feb 2026). Earlier, the Thirlwall Inquiry legal team noted in May 2024 that the government had accepted the recommendation and stated that NHS England would consider the role of service users in taking the programme forward (The Thirlwall Inquiry legal team, May 2024).

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026.

Report-level response context

Government responded via "Hard Truths: The Journey to Putting Patients First" (2014), a single document covering all 290 recommendations with a blanket acceptance. Individual recommendation responses were not broken out.

Government response

●Department of Health and Social Care · Accepted · 19 Nov 2013

Speaker not recorded. Source: Department of Health, Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First, volume 2 (Cm 8777-II), November 2013

Accepted.
There is a clear role for the users of services in the development of appropriate information and statistics. The UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice for Official Statistics139 (January 2009) outlines a protocol on user engagement the basis of which, including the need to understand the requirements and views of the users of information, are applicable to the development of all information.
The Health and Social Care Information Centre works with a range of relevant stakeholders and experts in the design and presentation of its statistics. It recognises that it needs to do more in this regard, and will be reviewing its publications strategy accordingly.
While the initial development of specialty level statistics as outlined in recommendation 264 had limited input from patient groups, NHS England will consider carefully the role of service users in taking this programme of work forward.

Extract from: Hard Truths: The Journey to Putting Patients First. Volume Two of the Government Response to the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry: Response to the Inquiry's Recommendations

Site note: This is volume two of "Hard Truths: The Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777-II), the government's response to the Inquiry's 290 recommendations, published by the Department of Health on GOV.UK on 19 November 2013 and dated to that day here. The PDF the row links to is the accessible edition, whose title page reads "January 2014". The Department of Health has been the Department of Health and Social Care since January 2018. The volume says it includes accounts from each of the national organisations the recommendations name, but it does not mark which passage each organisation wrote, so every row is filed under the Department that published it.

Delivery

●DHSC and NHS England say in progress · 27 Feb 2026

Please see our response to recommendation 252 above.

NHS England frequently conducts public consultations on key statistical reports, data released and proposed changes to data collection methods. These consultations allow the public to provide feedback about how patient statistics are collected and used.

From: The Thirlwall Inquiry: Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version dated April 2025)

Site note: DHSC and NHS England's own account of progress, supplied to the Thirlwall Inquiry in September 2024 and printed in the Inquiry legal team's Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version dated April 2025, published 27 February 2026). It is not a finding of the Inquiry. Their reviewed extent of implementation reads “Implemented - Ongoing”. Table row: section 18.2 No. 266, PDF page 568.

●Department of Health and Social Care says in progress · 11 Feb 2015

See update to recommendation 264. In addition, NHS England is launching a programme of composite indicator development which will provide an ‘at a glance’ view of how well hospital services are performing. This will roll out over 10 clinical areas throughout 2014-2016. The development of the markers will be commissioned from those organisations that have the skills, experience and data to do the work effectively - most likely this will be drawn from existing clinical audits and intelligence networks. In developing the new markers, a central requirement is that proper regard is given to the priorities of patients. Additionally the individual indicators that make up each composite will be made available so that patients, clinicians and managers can better understand the variations that exist within and between services.

From: Culture Change in the NHS supporting Annex (annex to Culture change in the NHS: applying the lessons of the Francis Inquiries)

Site note: This is the supporting annex published on 11 February 2015 with "Culture change in the NHS: applying the lessons of the Francis Inquiries" (Cm 9009), attached to the GOV.UK page as "Culture change in the NHS supporting annex". The annex has no title page; that title is GOV.UK's and the PDF's own. Its table has four columns (No., Recommendation, Hard Truths Government response, Progress update), and the row carries the Progress update cell. No column says which organisation wrote an update, so the row is filed under the Department of Health (now the Department of Health and Social Care), which published it.

What other bodies have found

In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.

●Thirlwall Inquiry legal team · 15 May 2024

This recommendation was accepted by the Government. The Government accepted that initial development of speciality-level statistics had limited input from patient groups, but said NHS England would consider the role of service users in taking the programme forward.

From: The Thirlwall Inquiry: Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version of 15 May 2024)

Site note: The Thirlwall Inquiry legal team's own notes on implementation, from its Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version of 15 May 2024). The review does not colour its Extent of Implementation cell for this recommendation green; it leaves the cell uncoloured where a recommendation was rejected, where evidence of implementation was insufficient, or where steps had been taken but implementation was not yet complete. Table row: section 16.2 No. 266, PDF page 521-522.

How this page is built

The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.