NHS Outcomes Framework (NHS OF)

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 February/March 2022 onwards. The August 2021 release will be 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.

Due to the coronavirus illness (COVID-19) and the need to release capacity across the NHS to support the response, the publication of the NHS Outcomes Framework was paused for November 2020. The publication will next be released in February 2021, and will include updates to all indicators where new data has been made available since the August 2020 release.

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.