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Guidance on using Feasibility Self-Service

We offer safe, secure access to patient data and provide one-to-one support to help your trial run smoothly and efficiently. Our services can support you at every stage of the clinical trial process.  

Page contents
What's in this guide
  • How to access Feasibility Self-Service
  • How to use Feasibility Self-Service
  • How to export your results 
  • About the metadata in Feasibility Self-Service
  • Feasibility Self-Service Business Rules
  • Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

How to access Feasibility Self-Service

Activate your Data Access Environment (DAE) account

Look out for an email from Data Applications.

The subject of the email will be: NHS DigiTrials Feasibility Self-Service Tool DARS-NIC-652726-K9S4D DAE User Account Created:

The email will provide information about activating your DAE account.

Log in to DAE (Data Access Environment)

Open Data Access Environment.

Log in with your username and password.

When prompted, enter the authentication code you have been sent.

Note: you will have chosen your preference for receiving this when you set up your DAE account).

You will be asked to log in to DAE twice - this is normal. Please log in with the same username and password each time.

You will need to also set-up a two-factor authentication. Follow our guidance to learn how to do this.

You will be asked to log in to DAE twice - this is normal. Log in with the same username and password each time.

Open Data Access Environment (DAE)

In the box labelled 'Agreement', select your Agreement Number from the drop-down options. You will have received this in the welcome email you received as part of onboarding. Then click 'submit'.

 

Open DAE

Click the 'Tableau' link

This is the tool you use to access Feasibility Self-Service.

Look for the Tableau link

How to use Feasibility Self-Service

Our welcome page

Our welcome page provides information about Feasibility Self-Service. You will see a diagram explaining where we get our data from, and more information about the data and codes used within the service.

Clicking on the ‘Start Search’ button will take you directly to the Search Page where you can run your query.

Our welcome page

 

Our search page

Our search page is where you can run queries to evaluate the feasibility of your study.

Our search is broken down into a 5 step process:

1. Demographic Criteria (Age range, Gender, Ethnicity, Region and GP Practice) 
2. Clinical Inclusions – Diagnoses and Procedures 
3. Clinical Inclusions – Medication 
4. Clinical Exclusions – Diagnoses and Procedures 
5. Clinical Exclusions – Medication 

The guidance on this page covers some of the functionality on the Search Page in more detail.

Here is an example of the first page below:

Our search page

 

How to run a query

Demographics Criteria

All filters are optional and you can use as many as you like.

How to run a query

 

Using the ‘More info’ icons

If you click the ‘More info’ links a pop-up box will appear.

The box contains metadata and offers further detail on the fields within each section of the search page.

More information link

 

Finding out more about the codes (Clinical Exclusions section)

Find out more about the codes by typing into your browser the links listed in the Clinical Exclusions section.

DAE restrictions mean you won’t be able to click directly on the links on the Search Page.

If you don’t want to type in the links, you can access them using these links:

ICD10 codes
OPCS codes
BNF codes

Codes information

Inputting Inclusions and Exclusions

Inputting Inclusions

You choose which information to filter in or out of your query.

Hospital Diagnoses and Procedures
If you choose to complete both of the diagnoses and procedure sections, your results will return:

  • people who have had those diagnoses
  • people who have had those procedure
  • people who have had both those diagnoses and procedures

Medication

This section can be completed on its own, but it can also be used with a diagnoses and procedures search to locate people in this cohort taking particular medication, or it can be used on its own to include patients who are taking specific medication from your query.

Example

If you were to select a heart condition (diagnosis) and a heart bypass (procedure) and a medication, your results would return patients:

  • who have had either the heart condition diagnosis
  • or who have had the heart bypass operation
  • and are taking the selected medication for the condition.
Inputting Exclusions

Hospital Diagnoses and Procedures
If you choose to complete both the diagnoses and procedure sections, your results will not return:

  • people who have had those diagnoses
  • people who have had those procedure
  • people who have had both those diagnoses and procedures

Medication

This section can be completed alongside the diagnosis and procedures search to further refine your results or it can be used on its own to simply exclude patients who are taking specific medication from your query.

Using the ‘Reset’ buttons

The ‘Reset buttons are under the ‘More info’ links.

Clicking on ‘Reset’ will clear the information inputted within each section of the Search Page. It will also reset the ‘Yes/No’ button selections.

Reset button

How to select multiple codes

If you want to select more than one code within a certain filter.

∙ select the first code you want (A02 in our example).

∙ hold down SHIFT on your keyboard and then click the last code you want to select (A18 in our example). This will then select all codes between the two.

∙ click on ‘Apply’ - this will add the codes to your query.

You can repeat this as many times as you like.

Selecting multiple codes

Checking your query
Checking your query

After entering all your criteria in the search page you will need to click the ‘Continue’ button:

Continue button

This will allow you to review the criteria before running the query:

Review criteria

Getting your results

Once you are happy with the criteria selected, click the ‘Accept and run query’ button.

When the query has completed, you will automatically be taken to the results page.

Please note: it may take up to 5 minutes to return your results. 

Accept and run query

How to use our results page

There are two ways of viewing the results of your query:

  • Table Results
  • Map Results - showing where in England your potential trial participants are located.
Table Results

This displays the data in columns and rows. The table is interactive, and you can choose what data is displayed in the table.

To change the data that is displayed in the columns and rows, use the drop-downs on the top-right hand side.

Columns can be changed from Integrated Care Board (ICB) to either Region, GP Practice or Deprivation Decile. 

Rows can be changed from Age to Ethnicity, Gender or Deprivation Decile.

Please note: To help protect the identity of patients, suppression has been applied to small numbers. This means that any count below 8 is set to * and any count 8 and above is rounded to the nearest increment of 5. Additionally, if the total of the entire table is less than 100 the table will not display. Small GP Practices (less than 2,500 registered patients) have been grouped into an ‘Unknown’ category to help prevent identification of patients.

Results

Map Results

The map shows where the greatest number of potential trial participants are located. The larger the dot, the higher the number of patients in that location.

Map of results

Using the Search Parameters page

The Search Parameters page can be reached from the results page.

It shows which criteria is currently filtering the results displayed on the Results Page.

The criteria are broken down into ‘Demographic filters’, ‘Clinical Inclusions’ and ‘Clinical Exclusions’ so that you can view each section individually.

Search parameters

How to export your results

Download your results

∙ On the results page click the ‘Download’ button at the top-right of the Feasibility Self-Service screen.

∙ Select ‘Crosstab’ from the pop-up box.

∙ Select the either the ‘Map Results’ or ‘Table Results’ tab.

∙ Select the ‘CSV’ option to get your results in a .csv file.

∙ Click the ‘Download’ button.

Select csv

Extract your results

You must access the AWS Management Console. Log in with your DAE username and password.

In the AWS screen, click on ‘All services’ from the 'Services' drop-down, and then click on ‘View all services’.

Select All Services

Under the ‘Storage’ section, click on ‘S3’

Select S3
 

Locating your results

Open the folder called: nhsd-dspp-dae-prod-data-out. You can dismiss the notice about ‘insufficient permissions.

Locate your results

Look for your DAE username in the list of names.
Look for your username

Please note: Do not search within the ‘Find object by prefix’ search field.

Tip: as a shortcut you can use CTRL-F (or CMD-F on a Mac) on your keyboard.

This will bring up a search box in the browser where you can search the page for occurrences of your DAE username.

Make sure to check all the pages if your name appears later in the alphabet.

Downloading your results

Select the file you want to download by clicking on it from the list.

Click the ‘Download’ button at the top of the page to download your results.

Please note: This folder is a list of all the exports you’ve made. By default, files are named as “export(x)” with the highest number being the most recent export.

Download results


Click the ‘Download’ button at the top of the page to download your results.Download results

 

About the metadata in Feasibility Self-Service

Explaining the derivations and lineage for search fields in the Feasibility Self-Service tool.

Age

The minimum/maximum age of inclusion.

The age of patients is calculated from the date on which the patient was born or is officially deemed to have been born.

Data source = PDS (or HES OP if not available in PDS, then HES APC if not available in HES OP, then given an ‘unknown’ value if no DoB data available from any source).

Update method/frequency = Daily refresh

British National Formulary (BNF)

Patient records of dispensed medication, with the codes validated against Data Steward Service data to ensure that they exist, and for the retrieval of the latest description of the medication. The date used for BNF filtering is the first day of the month of the latest dispensing event during which data is submitted by pharmacists to NHSBSA for processing.

Data source = PCareMeds

Update method/frequency = Daily refresh, source is updated on approximately 20th day of every month.

Data available from = 1 April 2018

Ethnicity

The ethnicity of the patient, as specified by the patient. This is the classification used for the 2001 census. From April 2001 the codes were changed to represent the ethnic data categories as defined in the 2001 census. However, HES continued to accept the old codes as well as the new codes for the 2001-02 and 2002-03 data years.

Data source = HES OP if available or HES APC if HES OP not available. Otherwise, the ethnicity is logged as ‘unknown'.

Update method/frequency = Daily refresh

International Classification of Diseases (ICD)

Patient records of condition diagnosis, with the codes validated against Data Steward Service data to ensure that they exist, and for the retrieval of the latest description of the diagnosis. The date used for ICD filtering is when the patient was under the care of a particular consultant. If a patient has more than one episode in a spell, for each new episode there is a new value. However, the admission date which is copied to each new episode in a spell will remain unchanged and will be equal to the episode start date of the first episode in hospital. Only the latest episode will be available from the database.

Data source = HES

Update method = Daily refresh, source data updated monthly by month end.

Data available from = 1 April 1989

Classification of Surgical Operations (OPCS)

Patient records of operating procedures, with the codes validated against Data Steward Service data to ensure that they exist, and for the retrieval of the latest description of the procedures. The date used for OPCS filtering is when the patient was under the care of a particular consultant, based on the scheduled appointment date. If a patient has more than one episode in a spell, for each new episode there is a new episode start date. Only the latest episode will be available from the database.

Data source = HES

Update method = Daily refresh, source data updated monthly by month end.

Data available from = 10 November 1992

Region

Region location is based on the patient's registered GP Practice from PDS data, which is then looked up in Organisation Data Service (ODS) data and mapped to Government Office Region from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) postcode table.

Data source = PDS

Update method = Daily refresh

Sex

Defines the sex of the patient. The classification is phenotypical rather than genotypical - that is, it does not provide codes for medical or scientific purposes.

Notes:

* National Code (Not Known) means that the sex of a person has not been recorded

* National Code (Not Specified) means indeterminate - that is, unable to be classified as either male or female

Data source = PDS (or HES OP if not available in PDS, then HES APC if not available in HES OP, then given an ‘unknown’ value if no sex data available from any source).

Update method = Daily refresh

Feasibility Self Service Business Rules

Patient business rules

1. How do patients appear on the tool?

Patients who meet the DigiTrials valid feasibility patient criteria will have: 

  • patient is alive
  • patient has a valid NHS number
  • patient is registered with a GP in England
  • patient's demographic record (PDS) is not flagged as 'Sensitive'
  • patient's demographic record confidentiality code (PDS) is not flagged as 'I' for invalid 

2. What demographic criteria is used in the tool?

All patient demographics must be the most recent values on record, such as most recent gender.

3. Which trusts are used to calculate the patient's nearest trust?

The calculation of the patient's nearest trust is based on multiple factors, such as:

  • active and open trusts only
  • trusts that are not excluded as a high-level health geography exclusion (code Q99)
  • trusts that are not excluded as a trust national grouping exclusion (code W00)
  • benchmark group 'Acute type Trusts' only - should return only secondary care trusts
  • a mapping of all patient Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) latitude/longitude values to all acute trust LSOA, latitude/longitude values
  • individual patient's LSOA used to obtain the nearest trust value from the mapping
  • trust LSOAs give the very central location of a trust 

4. How is a patient associated to an ICB?

To identify a patient's ICB (integrated care board), we:

  1. Identify their registered GP practice.
  2. Then identify the parent ICB for this GP practice.

5. How is suppression applied to GP practices?

To suppress low population groups (active GP practices with less than 2,500 registered patients that also meet the criteria in section 'How do patients appear on the tool?') and protect patient data, we mask GP practice names and codes with the value 'Unknown'. This is so that those results are grouped together under the 'Unknown' value in the Feasibility Self Service (FSS) Tool when viewing results by GP practice.

6. How is the age calculated for the patient?

To get the best possible age value for a patient, we attempt to pull date of birth values if present from PDS, HES APC and HES OP to then derive the age value. Once we have these three values, we then check for the first real non-null value (as per the order above) and use that as the Feasibility age value for the patient.

7. How is the Index of Multiple Deprivation calculated?

We obtain the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) score for a patient by cross referencing the patient's postcode (LSOA11) with NHS England corporate reference data (Indices of Deprivation corporate reference table).

If we cannot validate the patient's postcode then we set that patients IMD score to being 'Unknown'.

8. What age range can be used to run a query?

If the user selects to run a query with an age range of less than 3 years, the query will automatically be adjusted to increase the maximum age to give a 3 year age range and the following warning message will be displayed 'Min age range 3 years – ages will be adjusted in search'. For example, entering 19-20 will be auto-adjusted to 19-21.

9. How are small numbers suppressed in the tool?

To protect the identity of patients and ensure confidentiality is maintained, HES suppression has been applied to small numbers. This means:

  • any count below 8 is set to * 
  • any count equal to or above 8 is rounded to the nearest increments of 5 
  • if the grant total is below 8, * will be displayed 
  • if there are no patients for a combination of row/column values result, the result will be blank 
  • if the sum of the patient count for the whole search is below 100, then the table will not be displayed
  • if the rows selection is 'GP Practice', practices with less than 2500 registered patients are grouped into an 'Unknown' category 

Medical code business rules

1. How are diagnosis dates calculated?

The data that the tool uses only contains the latest of any diagnosis (when the appointment was scheduled), procedure or dispensed prescribed medication code for a patient. For example, if a patient has been diagnosed with breast cancer 10 years ago, and then again 5 years ago, only the most recent diagnosis date would be used to calculate patient counts.

2. Which prescriptions are included in the tool?

Medication codes only include those that were prescribed in England.

3. What other validation is done against the codes in the tool?

Using NHS England corporate reference tables, we check that the medication codes, diagnosis codes and procedure codes we retrieve for a patient are valid. If any codes cannot be found in the NHS England corporate reference tables then we filter these records out of our database.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Why isn’t the diagnosis code I want to use in my query available to select? 

The codes available to use in queries are those which appear in the source datasets for the Feasibility Self-Service tool. Currently, these are:

  • Hospital Episode Statistics (Admitted Patient Care and Outpatients) contains ICD10 diagnosis codes and OPCS procedure codes
  • Medicines Dispense in Primary Care contains BNF codes

If you cannot find the code you want to use in your query, this indicates that there are no patients recorded in the datasets with those diagnoses, operations/procedures or prescriptions - that is to say, the code has not previously been used.

It is also possible to search using some key words. For example, if you enter 'cardio...' then all codes that contain that word in their description will appear.

How long does it take for a query result to load? 

After the 'Accept and Run Query' button is clicked the query runs through billions of rows of data to determine the results. It can take up to 5 minutes to complete. If you re-run your query with minor changes made, then it will run in a faster time.

If the query takes significantly longer you may want to restart the query. If this persists, contact the National Service Desk on 0300 303 5035 or email [email protected].

How can I save my query? 

You can save your query parameters by clicking on the 'View: Original' button at the top of the screen. In the pop-up modal, name the current view and then click the 'Save' button. To access previously saved query parameters, visit 'My Views' in the same pop-up modal.

I’ve got a ‘time out’ message. What do I do?

The platform that the tool is built on has an automatic 15-minute inactivity time-out. This is a security feature that ensures data and access is controlled.

If the system times out, you should be offered a 'Log back in' option which will give you access to the tool again.

Queries take up to 5 minutes to run, so if you see the time out message you should go back and re-run your query. If the time out message persists you should contact the National Service Desk on 0300 303 5035 or email [email protected].

Where can I find the NHS DigiTrials and NHS England Transparency Notices? 

Please see the NHS DigiTrials Transparency Notice and the NHS England Transparency Notice.

Could I have a subscription with more than 3 users?

We are currently only able to offer a package of up to 3 users per subscription. If you wish to have more than 3 users, then you will need to purchase additional subscriptions.

Could I pay the invoice with a credit card?

Our services are not set up to receive credit card payments, and payments should be made via bank transfer. Once we receive your purchase order (PO) number, we will provide access to the Feasibility Self-Service tool as soon as possible.

Would we be able to have access to GP clinical codes as part of the databases available on the Feasibility self-service?

At this time, NHS England does not collect GP clinical data for non-COVID purposes and therefore it is not possible to access GP clinical codes through the tool.

Does the tool work with SNOMED codes?

Currently the tool uses ICD10 diagnosis, OPCS operation/procedure, and BNF prescription codes. At this time, it would not be possible to return queries as quickly as up to five minutes given the much larger number of SNOMED codes that exist.

What counts as a query? 

A query is counted each time the ‘Accept and Run Query’ button is clicked.

At the moment users are unable to see the number of queries that they have run but we are exploring adding this as an enhancement. The subscription limit is 900 queries for 3 months across 3 users which we estimate will provide sufficient capacity. Users will be informed if they approach the query limit.

Can I access the tool outside of the UK?

Access to the Feasibility Self Service and Managed Service is designed for UK only. NHS England is not responsible or liable for any compliance with any local laws, should an authorised user seek to access the services outside of the UK. For security reasons NHS England may limit the availability of the services to a geographic area at any time in its discretion.

Last edited: 19 December 2023 3:19 pm