We are collecting data about women and girls with FGM who are being cared for by the NHS in England. This collection includes data items that will be routinely discussed by the patient and health professional as part of the standard delivery of care and that are included in the patient's healthcare record.

This data collection does not require health professionals to ask any additional questions beyond those necessary for the patient's treatment.

Data is collected via the NHS Digital Clinical Audit Platform or CAP, which is an easy to use, intuitive, data submission tool that needs no specific training. Although CAP is being used to collect the data the FGM enhanced dataset is in fact not an audit and this system is simply being used to collect the data.

Data is collected from NHS organisations every quarter.

NHS organisations and new users must register to access CAP by completing the FGM Enhanced Dataset CAP user registration form. This form contains important guidance about the dataset for Caldicott Guardians and CCGs and General Practices.

Once registered, users can access CAP online.

You can submit data directly into CAP or upload a CSV file. National data collection templates have also been developed and are available in many GP systems. The FGM Enhanced Dataset CAP Operational Guidance and the GP Approach to submitting data to FGM Enhanced dataset provide information and guidance on the process for submitting data.

NHS organisations have one month to submit their data after the end of each quarter before the data extraction for the report takes place. The dataset reports are published as an official statistics every quarter.

Annual submission and reporting dates

The FGM enhanced dataset includes the collection of some patient confidential data which is used to validate the data and ensure data quality. The confidential data is only used for this purpose and is not published in the final reports.

The collection has been commissioned via directions from the Department of Health. This provides the legal basis for the collection including the collection of patient confidential data without explicit patient consent. We comply with all national standards about data security and confidentiality. Here is a link to the Data Provision Notice for the FGM enhanced dataset that explains the purpose and scope of the collection.

Patients may object to their data being included in the FGM enhanced dataset. Read more about how we are using FGM patient information in Patients - your FGM information and how we use it.

We publish FGM enhanced dataset reports every quarter. These are published as an official statistic using de-identified aggregate data and comply with UK Statistics Authority rules.

Quarterly reports are available from April 2015. Reports are also published annually.

Access all of the FGM enhanced dataset reports.

User documents

• FGM Enhanced Dataset CAP User Registration Form
• GP Approach to submitting data to FGM Enhanced Dataset
• FGM CAP Operational Guidance Enhanced Dataset
• Submitting FGM Data via File Upload
• Frequently Asked Questions
• FGM Enhanced dataset (version 1.4)
• Reasons for steps to CAP registration

More resources

Health professionals have a statutory duty to safeguard their patients and should be familiar with the FGM Risk and Safeguarding Guidance for Professionals (Department of Health, May 2016) when caring for patients with FGM.

More guidance and video resources are also available from the Department of Health and Social Care.

Free FGM e-Learning  is available from e-Learning for Healthcare. The course contains five sessions and is relevant to all healthcare professionals.