Determining local service levels for a faecal continence service for the management of faecal incontinence in adults
Benchmarks for a standard population
Available data suggest that the standard benchmark rate for a referral into a faecal continence service is 0.1%, or 100 per 100,000, of the adult population (aged 15 years or older) per year.
For the purposes of this guide the adult population has been defined as people aged 15 years and older. This is due to the availability of population data at general practice level within certain age bands and its use within the commissioning tool. Approximately 80% of the English population is aged 15 years or older.
For a standard primary care trust population of 250,000 (around 200,000 people are aged 15 years or older), the average number of people requiring referral into a faecal continence service would be 200 per year (0.1% of the population aged 15 years or older).
For an average practice with a list size of 10,000, (around 8,000 are 15 years or older) the average number of people requiring referral into a faecal continence service would be around 10 per year (0.1% of the population aged 15 years or older).
This service is likely to fall under the programme budgeting category 213X (problems of gastrointestinal system).
Examine the assumptions used in estimating these figures.
Use the faecal continence service commissioning and benchmarking tool to determine the level of service that might be needed locally and to calculate the cost of commissioning the service using the indicative benchmark and/or your own local data.
Further information
Sources of further information to help you in assessing local health needs and reducing health inequalities include:
- Annex A of the Commissioning framework for health and well-being outlines the process and data needed to undertake a joint strategic needs assessment.
- Department of Health Delivering quality and value - focus on benchmarking.
- NICE Health equity audit - learning from practice briefing.
- National audit of continence care for older people provides access to individual site reports and data, and material to support the dissemination of results.
- The essence of care: patient-focused benchmarking for health care practitioners provides benchmarking tools related to eight aspects of nursing care, including continence, bladder and bowel care.
- Delivering the 18 week patient pathway: 18 week commissioning pathways.
- The No delays achiever provides access to service improvement tools aimed at reducing time between referral and treatment.
- The Practice-based commissioning comparators reporting service provides access to a range of indicators and activity data at practice level, enabling a better understanding of local commissioning activity, referral patterns and outcomes.
- PRIMIS+ provides support to general practices on information management, recording for, and analysis of, data quality, plus a comparative analysis service focused on key clinical topics.
This page was last updated: 31 March 2010
- Faecal continence service
- Commissioning a faecal continence service for the management of faecal incontinence in adults
- Specifying a faecal continence service for the management of faecal incontinence in adults
- Determining local service levels for a faecal continence service for the management of faecal incontinence in adults
- Assumptions used in estimating a population benchmark
- The commissioning and benchmarking tool
- Ensuring corporate and quality assurance
