Delay Code Reporting Guidance

Faster Cancer Treatment:

Delay code reporting guidance

Background

To support achievement of the Faster cancer treatment (FCT) health target, from 1 January 2017 the reporting of a delay code for records that do not achieve the 62-day timeframe will be mandatory.

The delay code reported should relate to the reason that contributed to the longest delay, or if there are two delays of equal length, the first delay that occurred.

Purpose of this document

The Faster Cancer Treatment Indicators: Business Rules and Data Definitions[1] specify three delay code reporting values[2]:

With the introduction of mandatory reporting, this document is intended to provide further clarification on the interpretation and use of these categories to support consistent and fair reporting of delay codes within FCT.

Rationale and use of reporting delay codes

Experience in the United Kingdom on shorter cancer waits[3] shows that capturing and analysis of breach reasons (delay codes) allows for identification of trends and highlighting of systematic problems, which can be corrected or improved to positively impact patient experience and achievement of targets.

Gaining visibility of breach numbers, locations and reasons is a critical component for DHBs to understand where they are in the process of delivering on the FCT health target. Good breach tracking and analysis will allow DHBs to develop local responses that reflect the complexities of their own organisations, and can assist with:

• how to assess, understand and prioritise areas of greatest need within cancer pathways
• assessing tumour streams and identifying key priorities for improvement
• establishing baseline position and planning for improvements needed to achieve targets.

Delays to treatment can be categorised as either ‘avoidable breaches’ or ‘unavoidable breaches’. Having clear visibility of the difference, and the volumes and locations of each type, is an invaluable tool in the improvement cycle.

• Unavoidable = legitimate patient choice, an unusually complex diagnostic pathway, or the delay was a clinical exception and in the best clinical interest of the patient.
• Avoidable = breaches resulting from administrative or capacity issues.

Good practice points on undertaking breach reviews include:

• all breaches should be reviewed in detail to identify learnings, understand bottlenecks, identify capacity issues and determine whether the issue was irregular or systematic
• comparison of the actual pathway with time at each milestone against locally agreed milestones is often helpful
• sub-categorising avoidable and unavoidable delays by each stage of the pathway
• findings should be presented back to clinical and management teams/departments
• actions should be identified and immediately put into place to prevent further similar avoidable breaches.

Expanded delay code guidance

• Must be able to demonstrate the patient generated the delay by choosing to wait longer.
• Patients should be supported to understand their care pathway and treatment options and to make informed decisions.
• Patients should be offered reasonable choice and given sufficient notice of their appointments and treatments. If patients are unable to attend at very short notice or are given little choice this should not be considered a patient reason/choice delay.

• A patient who is going on holiday and is unavailable for a period greater than 1 calendar week[4].
• A patient who is not available to attend any offered appointments and the impact of the delay is greater than 1 calendar week (from the earliest date offered).
• A patient who changes their mind about their treatment (*note, this should generate a review of the information and support provided to the patient to make a decision on their care and treatment).
• A patient who does not attend (DNA) their appointment or treatment (*note, DNAs should be reviewed to understand any contributing factors and how patients can be supported to attend).
• Patient seeks a second opinion.
• Patient chooses to delay due to the specialist being unavailable (eg, on leave) and has declined to be treated by another specialist who is available.

• A patient who is unavailable to attend on an appointment or treatment date offered (so long as they are able to accept an alternative date that does not delay their care by more than 1 calendar week).
• A patient who wants to take a few days to consider their options and discuss with family/whanau (so long as this does not delay their care by more than 1 calendar week).
• Patient’s agreed treatment option is not offered at their DHB-of-domicile (so long as the treatment is part of a standard treatment pathway. Improving coordination and provision of care across DHBs should be a key focus of FCT).

• Where a co-morbidity or complication needs to be addressed before the patient can receive their cancer treatment.
• Should not be used where there are delays to assessments, tests or procedures that are part of the standard plan of care as these should be factored into the treatment pathway and timeframe.

• Where diagnosis is complex or requires investigations additional to the standard pathway of care.
• There are cancer-related complications, eg formation of a defunctioning stoma prior to chemo or radiation therapy.
• There are intercurrent problems or pre-existing co-morbidities that need to be managed prior to treatment. Eg: patient requiring steroids to manage chest symptoms prior to starting chemotherapy or patient requiring antibiotics to treat urinary tract infection prior to having the prostate biopsied.
• The patient fails anaesthetic assessment.
• There is a delay post-biopsy to allow healing and/or infection to subside (eg, between TRUS biopsy and MRI; after a LLETZ cone or formal cone biopsy).
• Where a patient receives fertility treatment/preservation prior to treatment.

• Where a clinical assessment was not completed within agreed timeframes.
• Where the patient underwent tests or treatment at a DHB other than their DHB-of-domicile (so long as it was part of a standard treatment pathway. Improving coordination and provision of care across DHBs should be a key focus of FCT).
• Volume study prior to implantation of low-dose radiotherapy seeds for brachytherapy.

• Situations where the capacity of the system, DHB, service or process have limited the ability to achieve the FCT health target.
• Had more capacity or improved processes been available it could reasonably be expected that the patient would not have breached.

• Lack of resources – theatre, equipment, facilities or workforce.
• Process constraint, including administrative errors.
• Communication and process issues in the transfer of patient care between DHBs/hospitals.

[1] Version 3.1, March 2014. Available on the Nationwide Service Framework Library: http://nsfl.health.govt.nz/accountability/performance-and-monitoring/business-rules-and-templates-reporting/faster-cancer

[2] It is understood that some DHBs and/or Regional Cancer Networks are capturing more detailed delay code information than specified in the Faster Cancer Treatment Indicators: Business Rules and Data Definitions. This is supported, so long as DHBs/RCNs ensure that for reporting to the national FCT collection this information is aggregated into the three values specified in the Faster Cancer Treatment Indicators: Business Rules and Data Definitions.

[3] Delivering Cancer Waiting Times: A Good Practice Guide NHS Interim Management and Support (2015). Available on the FCT Quickr website https://collab.moh.govt.nz/fastercancertreatment or

[4] The period of 1 calendar week is given as a guide for when these types of delay can be coded as ‘patient reason’ (a patient-generated delay) rather than ‘capacity constraint’ (a delay due to the system not supporting patient choice and access).