NHS Outcomes Framework (NHS OF)

Following the merger of NHS Digital and NHS England on 1st February 2023 we are reviewing the future presentation of the NHS Outcomes Framework indicators.

As part of this review, the annual publication which was due to be released in March 2023 has been delayed. Further announcements about this dataset will be made on this page in due course.

Between 12 February 2021 and 12 March 2021, NHS Digital consulted on a proposal to change the frequency of the NHS Outcomes Framework publication from quarterly to annual, and for the August 2021 release to be the final quarterly publication.

A summary of responses, as well as future recommendations, is available in the 'NHS OF Responses to Consultation and NHS Digital Recommendations' document available from the resources section below.

NHS OF will be published on an annual basis from March 2022 onwards. The August 2021 release was the final quarterly publication.

NHS Digital has also released an 'NHS OF Data Source Links' document as a supplement to the consultation response document. This is also available from the resources section below. It provides a list of links to underlying source data, as well as links to alternative data sources where available, for all NHS OF indicators. This is intended to assist users access the most timely available data in between publication refreshes.

The NHS Outcomes Framework (NHS OF) indicators provide national level accountability for the outcomes the NHS delivers; they drive transparency, quality improvement and outcome measurement through the NHS.

The framework sets out the national outcome goals that the Secretary of State uses to monitor the progress of NHS England. It does not set out how these outcomes should be delivered, it is for NHS England to determine how best to deliver improvements by working with Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to make use of the tools at their disposal.