Data Insight: Informing better use of Welsh hospital admissions data in the SAIL Databank

This Data Insight reviewed the clinical coding completeness and lag in the Patient Episode Database for Wales (PEDW). Findings indicate there is a significant lag in clinical coding which people using PEDW should be aware should be aware of. This is important because it indicates that partial episode information is initially entered into PEDW and the records are subsequently updated with clinical coding information. Therefore caution must be exercised when using recent extracts of the dataset for analysis.