Accuracy and reliability

Overall accuracy

The precision of the statistics is primarily affected by the fact that some municipalities do not report or cannot approve their data and are therefore not included in the statistics. The municipality has the opportunity to report data on excel, which is especially the case for the statistics regarding referred and provided home care as well home nursing care can influence the accuracy of the data.

When the municipality does not approve data for the year, Statistics Denmark imputes approved data for previous year to calculate the annual and national total. For Preventive home visits, the municipality must have approved minimum 8 months of data before Statistics Denmark lists annual and country totals the statistics bank. This is due to a significant seasonal variation.

Home care: The source is the municipalities' administrative EOJ systems, and their reliability submitted information must generally be considered high. For referred and provided home care the municipalities have different limits for when referred are carried out for SEL § 83, SEL § 95 and SUL § 138, of which the latter two are not included in the statistics regarding referred and provided home care. That means that municipalities that refer citizens who are the target group for SUL § 138, SEL § 95 and SEL § 83, to SEL § 83 typically has an average higher referred and provided time. All information is approved by the municipalities and quality assured by Statistics Denmark before publication. It is not necessarily all months that are reported by the municipalities, and this can cause uncertainty. The citizens visited for the first time in Referred home care will usually be missing or absent when the municipalities report data on Excel or if the municipality has changed the subject system, which affects the reliability of the variable first-time visitors. Rehabilitation: More and more municipalities introduce rehabilitation according to the Social Service Act § 83a, and it is different whether the municipalities report this training as home care or as rehabilitation or maintenance training or whether for some years they report during home care and during training in other years. Training: For training information, however, it applies that some municipalities find it difficult to distinguish between training according to The Service Act (section 86, subsections 1 and 2) and the Health Act (section 140). Benefits according to the Health Act can therefore appear in the statistics. Preventive home visits also differ between municipalities. Home nursing care in your own home: It may happen that the municipality reports data from psychiatric and social housing facilities, which will be included in data, which deals with one's own home. Housing choice: Since there are now statistics for several years, you can compare over the years and this provides greater reliability, as the development can be used in troubleshooting. The municipalities before publication approve all information. Course and readmissions: LPR is validated by the Danish Health Authority, and the reliability of the register's information must generally be considered high

Sampling error

The User Satisfaction Survey is a sample survey

Non-sampling error

Coverage errors are estimated to be very limited, as the counts are total counts. However, in 2022 there is between 0 and 1 municipality that do not approve the individual deliveries each year. The highest coverage is seen for referred home care, home nursing and nursing homes. See coverage rate for Referred home care, Home nursing, Nursing home, Preventive home visits, Referred and provided home care on the High Quality Variables page

· In general for home care, preventative home visits and training: Measurement errors may be due to invalid personal identification numbers or company numbers. It could also be due to the municipality has reversed practical care and personal help.

· Housing choice: The municipality mistakenly changes citizens who are on the free choice list or on the general waiting list.

Quality management

Statistics Denmark follows the recommendations on organisation and management of quality given in the Code of Practice for European Statistics (CoP) and the implementation guidelines given in the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (QAF). A Working Group on Quality and a central quality assurance function have been established to continuously carry through control of products and processes.

Quality assurance

Statistics Denmark follows the principles in the Code of Practice for European Statistics (CoP) and uses the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (QAF) for the implementation of the principles. This involves continuous decentralized and central control of products and processes based on documentation following international standards. The central quality assurance function reports to the Working Group on Quality. Reports include suggestions for improvement that are assessed, decided and subsequently implemented.

Quality assessment

· In general for home care, home nursing, preventative home visits, training, and rehabilitation: The quality is estimated to be high but cannot be measured. Most data come from the municipalities’ care systems. At the moment there are three suppliers at the market for care systems. There might be differences between the three systems, which can be seen if the municipality changes supplier, as there might be small data breaks. In the total for the country, where lacking municipalities are included by using data from the year before, there might be uncertainty as we do not get raises/falls from these municipalities. In cases where municipalities have not reported and data is enumerated from the other municipalities and the register of population, there might be uncertainty.

· Home care: The reports involved are monthly. Not all municipalities are covered with adequate data. So there is varying coverage of the month for the municipalities, which is a source of uncertainty. Some few municipalities are missing, which gives an uncertainty in proportion to the total country. Moreover, there could be variations throughout the year that have not been registered. For instance, if there has been a fall from January to December, and the municipality only report in January, the fall will not be part of the statistics. Some municipalities have claimed that there might be nursing care in the reported data, but it is not possible to separate these. Some municipalities report rehabilitation under permanent home care, while other municipalities report this under services for training.

· Free choice of housing: The latest years 97 or 98 municipalities have reported, and it is possible to compare several years.

· Preventative home visits: Not all municipalities have reported data, which leads to uncertainty regarding the total country.

· Training and maintenance training: From 2010 Statistics Denmark started to receive encrypted data in Excel from the municipalities that had not been reported before. This has caused that Statistics Denmark now has data from many municipalities, meaning that a total for the country can be calculated. Yet, there is an uncertainty for the whole country as some municipalities still have not reported. It is uncertain to which extent training under the Law of Health is in the statistics.

· Readmissions: The register of patients (LPR) is made on basis of the reports from the individual hospitals. Data is reported to LPR, when the hospitalisation is finished. This is estimated to be done for almost 100 per cent of cases.

· Quality of service: A random sample is made every second year, which is representative compared to the share of home help recipients aged 67 and older

Data revision - policy

Statistics Denmark revises published figures in accordance with the Revision Policy for Statistics Denmark. The common procedures and principles of the Revision Policy are for some statistics supplemented by a specific revision practice.

Data revision practice

• Home care, free choice of dwelling, rehabilitation, home nursing, preventative home visits and training: In principle, only final figures are published. Subsequently there might be errors and changes. If this happens there will be revised for earlier years at the yearly update. Method changes are also revised at the yearly update. It is currently discussed how far back a revision shall be made. So far, data is revised back to 2008, when the statistics started, if errors or changes are reported. Revision is done once yearly in connection with the publication of the new annual data.
• For publication on 26 May 2023, Vejle Municipality has only made a partial data report regarding referrals to home care. A re-publication based on a complete data report of referred home care for Vejle Municipality took place on 23 June 2023, and has resulted in changes to the firstly published figures. For results regarding referred home care affects the changes in Vejle, Region Southern Denmark and the national total. Due to the calculation method used is the results regarding provided home care of several municipalities and regions as well as the national total are affected by the update.
• Clinical pathways and readmissions: In principle, only final figures are published. However, in case of editing and revisions in the underlying data source, published figures may be revised. Tables AED19A and AED20A are updated for the entire time series up until 2022 on the basis of The National Patient Register per the 10th of March 2023.
• Quality of service: Only final data is published.