Audit Info Documents
For access to additional NELA documents please click the left-hand menu.
NELA Information Governance Procedures
NELA has secured approval from the Health Research Authority's Confidentiality Advisory Group for 'Support for Use of Patient Identifiable Information without Consent' (Section 251 of NHS Act 2006 and Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002) - CAG reference: CAG 5-07(d)/2013.
Our NELA Information Governance Procedures provide useful information to Caldicott Guardians in NHS Trusts and Boards.
Information Governance Procedures for NELA (word version) Version 1.1.5 (updated Sept 2021).pdf (574 KB)
NELA Parsimonious Risk Score Technical Documentation
(UPDATED MAY 2023)Please find here a link to the technical information regarding implementation of the parsimonious NELA risk score, which went into effect 1st April 2023.
Technical Document NELA_PRS_Overview_Coefficients April 2023.pdf (205 KB)
OPCS labels for procedure items in NELA dataset
(UPDATED JUNE 2019)
There are over 400 OPCS codes that might be used to code patients undergoing emergency laparotomy. The codes in the form below should allow people to identify potential procedures within NELA, but hospitals will need to filter out those procedures that do not meet the NELA inclusion criteria.
We do not recommend that hospitals use OPCS codes as the sole mechanism to identify patients for inclusion into NELA. The inclusion/exclusion criteria are defined according to clinical definitions, not coding definitions. For this reason, it will be extremely difficult for hospitals to provide accurate audit data using OPCS codes to retrospectively identify patients.
The audit is intended to be completed by clinical teams as the patient progresses through the emergency laparotomy pathway. The data entry tool has been designed to facilitate this as much as possible.
NELA HES Algorithm OPCS (June 2019).pdf (121 KB)
Understanding Practice in Clinical Audit and Registries tool: UPCARE-tool
A protocol to describe the key features of the NELA clinical audit. Download below:
2024 02 23 UPCARE Programme Level National Emergency Laparotomy Audit.pdf (159 KB)
2024 02 23 UPCARE Workstream Reports National Emergency Laparotomy Audit.pdf (162 KB)
Organisational Audit Link to Standards
To download a PDF of the organisational audit link to standards click below.
Organisational Audit Link to Standards.pdf (695 KB)
Caldicott Guardian Information
All participating trusts have completed, signed and returned a 'Caldicott Guardian agreement form' confirming that Caldicott approval has been given to provide NELA with patient identifiable data.
Participant Manual
Created by the NELA Team to bring together all project documents in one place that is easy to access. This can act as reference for audit participants and a record of what resources are available.
Participant Manual (3.30 MB)
Audit Protocol
Outline of the project structure
Audit Protocol (536 KB)
