CHAPTER 3 DATA AND METHODS
3.2 Overview of data sources and approach to data analysis
Where appropriate disaggregated administrative data are available, they are applied in the analyses in this report. However, where disaggregated administrative data are not available, more aggregated data and/or survey data are included. Administrative data are collected by organisations, including government bodies, primarily for administrative purposes. Administrative data
are not ordinarily collected to provide information for research; however use of administrative data within research is becoming increasingly prevalent. The benefits of these data are that they are routinely collected, do not depend upon recipient self-reporting, and they are often stringently audited and quality controlled. Furthermore, they often provide information on the full population of service use rather than a sub-sample. Limitations with the data also arise. As the data are not collected for the purpose of research there is often a paucity of granular information at the provider or service user-level, such as disaggregation of healthcare use by age and sex, which has been essential for the analysis in this report.
Survey-based data are the most common form of data used in health research. These data are ordinarily collected through a face-to-face interview or computer assisted personal interview (CAPI). These data depend upon self-reported responses of interviewees. Survey-based data ask interviewees about their current health or use of a service within a particular timeframe. Responses may not always be accurate due to common issues with survey-based data such as failure to understand the question or recall bias. Furthermore, survey-based data respondents are a sample of the full population of service users, and may not be representative of the full population of users. However, the increasing use of representative weighting techniques addresses such issues. The benefits of survey-based data are that they include tailored questions on specific topics, many of which would never be captured sufficiently in administrative data. They ordinarily also ask a range of demographic questions relating to the respondent and their environment. This provides richer sources of information to measure healthcare demand. In this report, where insufficient administrative data exist we rely on survey-based data in lieu of, or in combination with, administrative data. For example, where granular information such as the age distribution of service recipients is lacking within administrative data, survey data are used to impute this. Where representative weights are available, they are used to estimate demand from survey-based data.
For many chapters, granular administrative data disaggregated by age and sex are available. For example, the Hospital Inpatient Enquiry (HIPE) administrative data provide the basis for the acute public hospital analyses. However, since no analogous centralised system exists to capture activity in private hospitals, the ability to make comparisons between public and private hospital care demand is diminished. Furthermore, where administrative data are available, e.g. for home care, which lacks disaggregation by age and sex, survey data are also used to estimate an age and sex distribution. For many health and social care services, in particular privately-delivered services, no appropriate administrative or survey data exist, which has limited the scope of the analysis in this report.
Data and methods | 63
Table 3.1 lists the data sources employed in the baseline utilisation analysis and in the analysis of unmet need and demand. For each principal data source, the table shows: the level of disaggregation (by age and sex); the category of data (administrative or survey); and the base year(s) of the data included in the analysis. Where possible, data have been analysed at the level of single year of age (SYOA) and sex, with the most disaggregated age cohort included if SYOA is not available. As the base year for this report is 2015, where available, data from 2015 are used. Where data from 2015 are not available, the most recent year of data available are used as a substitute. A detailed description of each data source is provided in Appendix 2.
TABLE 3.1 PRINCIPAL DATA SOURCES: NAME WITH PROVIDER IN BRACKETS
Baseline Utilisation Principal Data Source Level of Data Disaggregation Data Type Data Base Year
Public hospital care Emergency Department Attendance Data
(Health Service Executive (HSE) Planning and Business Information Unit (BIU)) Age Cohorts (0-15, 16-64, 65+) Administrative 2015
Patient Experience Time (PET) Data
(HSE BIU) Single Year of Age (SYOA) and Sex Administrative 2015
Outpatient Attendance Data
(HSE BIU) Age Cohorts (0-15, 16-64, 65+) Administrative 2015
Hospital Inpatient Enquiry (HIPE) Inpatient and Day-case Data
(Healthcare Pricing Office) SYOA and Sex Administrative 2006-2015
Private hospital care Healthy Ireland Survey Wave 2 Data
(Department of Health) Age Cohorts (15-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65-74, 75+) and Sex Survey 2015/2016
Health Insurance Authority (HIA) Risk Equalisation Returns Data
(Health Insurance Authority) SYOA and Sex Administrative 2015
General practice services Healthy Ireland Survey Wave 1 Data
(Department of Health) Age Cohorts (15-19, 20-24, 25-29, …, 85-89, 90+) and Sex Survey 2014/2015
Growing Up in Ireland Infant Cohort Wave 1 Data Age (9 months) and Sex Survey 2008/2009
Growing Up in Ireland Infant Cohort Wave 2 Data Age (3 Years) and Sex Survey 2011
Growing Up in Ireland Child Cohort Wave 1 Data Age (9 Years) and Sex Survey 2007/2008
Growing Up in Ireland Child Cohort Wave 2 Data Age (13 Years) and Sex Survey 2011/2012
Community
Pharmaceuticals and Pharmacy Services
Primary Care Reimbursement Scheme (PCRS) Drug Reimbursement Data
(HSE) Age Cohorts (0-4, 5-11, 12-15, 16-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54,
55-64, 65-69, 70-74, 75+) and Sex
Administrative 2010-2014
Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) Health Module
(Central Statistics Office (CSO)) Age Cohorts (18-19, 20-24, 25-29, …, 80-84, 85+) and Sex Survey 2010
Long-term and
intermediate care services Nursing Home Support Scheme (NHSS) Data (HSE Social Care Division) SYOA and Sex Administrative 2015
Publicly-financed residents under legacy schemes
(HSE Social Care Division) SYOA
15 and Sex Administrative 2015
Department of Health Long-Stay Activity Statistics (Dept of Health) Age Cohorts and Sex Survey 2014
Nursing Homes Ireland Surveys
(Nursing Homes Ireland) - Survey 2014
Health Information and Quality Authority Long-Term Care Bed Data
(Health Information and Quality Authority) - Administrative 2015
Home care services Home Help and Home Care Package Data
(HSE Social Care Division) - Administrative 2015
The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing Wave 3
(The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA)) Age Cohorts (65-69, 70-74, 75-79, 80-84, 85+) and Sex Survey 2015/2016
Public health nursing and
community therapy services Public health nursing and community therapy data (HSE BIU) Age Cohorts (0-4, 5-17, 18-64, 65+) Administrative 2015
The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing Wave 3
(TILDA) Age Cohorts (65-69, 70-74, 75-79, 80-84, 85+) and Sex Survey 2015/2016
Unmet Need/Demand Principal Data Source Level of Data Disaggregation Data Type Data Base Year
Public hospital care National Treatment Purchase Fund Outpatient Waiting List Data
(National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF)) SYOA and Sex Administrative 2015
NTPF Inpatient and Day-Patient (IPDC) Waiting List Data
(NTPF) SYOA and Sex Administrative 2015
General practice services Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) Health Module
(CSO) Age Cohorts (18-19, 20-24, …, 80-84, 85+) and Sex Survey 2010
Long-term and
intermediate care services Nursing Home Support Scheme (NHSS) Data (HSE Social Care Division)
Health Service Executive Delayed Discharge Data (HSE BIU)
SYOA and Sex SYOA and Sex
Administrative Administrative
2015 2015
Home care services Home Help and Home Care Package Waiting List Data
(HSE Social Care Division) - Administrative 2016
Public health nursing and community therapy services
Community therapy data
(HSE BIU) Age Cohorts (0-4, 5-17, 18-64, 65+) Administrative 2015
The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing Wave 3 (TILDA)16 Age Cohorts (65-69, 70-74, 75-79,
80-84, 85+) and Sex Survey 2015/2016