Practical Commissioning's Jargon Buster explains the meaning of the term 'Data validation'.
Information is, without doubt, the foremost single issue that affects more PBC practices and groups than any other. Without robust and timely information from the PCT, you will encounter great difficulties in assessing the commissioning agenda. Data validation is the process to identify errors in providers' information or the PCT's interpretation.
The process needs to ask: did the activity take place, has it been correctly recorded, is the information appropriate, and what can be learned from this information?
An example of a data error would be a pregnancy counted as lasting for 12 months.
Or a patient being coded as having occupied a bed for several nights when they were in fact not admitted at all.
