What Will Change from April 2025?

The AACC Data Set encompasses various forms of continuing care for both adults and children:​

• For Adults:
  • NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC)​
  • NHS-funded Nursing Care (FNC)​
  • Joint Funded Individual packages of care (JF)​
• For Children and Young People:
  • Children and Young People’s continuing care (CYP)​

The primary goal of the AACC programme is to enhance the experience, transparency, and fairness in continuing care services, ensuring smooth transitions between services and resources for individuals and families.

Historically, while adult NHS continuing healthcare and NHS-funded nursing care have had established data collections, there has been a lack of corresponding activity data for joint funded individual packages of care and children’s continuing care. The AACC Data Set aims to bridge this gap by expanding its scope to include these areas, thereby providing a comprehensive view of all continuing care services. ​

As a secondary uses data set, the AACC is designed to repurpose operational data for analysis beyond direct patient care. This includes:​

• Monitoring patient wait times for care packages​
• Identifying frequent changes in care packages​
• Highlighting areas that may indicate suboptimal patient outcomes​

Such insights will enable healthcare providers to identify and address issues promptly, leading to improved patient care and resource utilisation, and therefore freeing up workforce capacity.

All Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) commissioning NHS-funded AACC services in England are required to implement this data set as per the guidelines detailed in the information standard implementation guidance. This necessitates that responsible commissioners collect information as defined in the Technical Output Specification. Additionally, NHS-funded AACC IT system suppliers must ensure their systems are updated to accommodate these changes. ​

For professionals in local government and healthcare sectors, the introduction of the AACC Data Set presents both opportunities and challenges:

• Data-Driven Decision Making: With more comprehensive data, decision-makers can better assess the effectiveness of continuing care services, leading to informed policy and funding decisions.​
• Resource Allocation: Enhanced data collection will allow for more accurate tracking of service demand, facilitating optimal resource distribution.​
• System Integration: IT systems must be updated or replaced to align with the new data set requirements, necessitating collaboration between healthcare providers and IT suppliers.​
• Training and Development: Staff will require training to adapt to new data collection and reporting processes, ensuring compliance and data accuracy.​

To ensure a smooth transition to the AACC Data Set, organisations should have considered the following steps:

• Review Current Systems: Assess existing data collection and reporting systems to identify necessary updates or replacements.​
• Engage with IT Suppliers: Collaborate with IT system providers to ensure they are prepared to support the new data requirements.​
• Staff Training: Develop and implement training programmes to equip staff with the knowledge and skills needed for the new data collection processes.​
• Stakeholder Communication: Inform all relevant stakeholders about the upcoming changes and their implications to ensure alignment and support.​

The launch of the NHS All Age Continuing Care Data Set marks a pivotal development in the collection and utilisation of continuing care data across England. By understanding its scope, significance, and implementation requirements, decision-makers in local government and healthcare can effectively prepare for this transition, ultimately enhancing the quality and efficiency of care provided to individuals and families.

The proven expertise of IEG4 (part of the IEG Group) in delivering digital CHC (Continuing Healthcare) solutions places it at the forefront of enabling this transition. Our end-to-end, easy to deploy AACC-ready solution is built with interoperability and evolving NHS standards in mind, ensuring commissioners can efficiently collect, manage, and report the expanded data requirements across all age groups. By streamlining processes through multiple automated workflows, improving accuracy in data capture, and enabling robust reporting, IEG4 empowers healthcare organisations and local authorities to drive greater efficiency, reduce administrative burdens, and cut operational costs, all whilst aligning with the AACC framework to improve transparency and patient outcomes.