Project #194:
Short data report: Recording of personalised follow-up pathways in OpenSAFELY
Patient initiated follow-up (PIFU), which is a type of personalised follow-up, was introduced in 2021 for a wide range of health conditions. It means that patients can book appointments as needed, instead of on a set schedule. Its goal is to reduce waiting times and make sure that patients who are most in need are able to be seen in a timely manner. The purpose of this study is to understand how well patients on personalised follow-up pathways can be identified in Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Outpatient data in OpenSAFELY.
Specifically, we will:
- Determine how well patients on personalised pathways can be identified in OpenSAFELY, and whether this has changed over time;
- Determine whether there is variation in capture of patients on personalised follow-up pathways by clinical and demographic characteristics;
- Identify whether patients’ health service utilisation patterns change after they start a personalised follow-up pathway;
- Externally validate data in OpenSAFELY by comparing estimates with publicly available aggregate PIFU data.
- Study lead: Andrea Schaffer
- Organisation: University of Oxford
- Project type: Short data report (Data Curation Project)
- Topic area: Other/indirect impacts of COVID on health/healthcare
- Date of approval: 2025-05-22
- View project progress, open code and outputs