Overview

NEIA audit (NEIAA) aims to improve the quality of care for people living with inflammatory arthritis, collecting information on all new patients over the age of 16 in specialist rheumatology departments in England and Wales.

2020 winner: Richard Driscoll Award for Patient and Public Involvement

Commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership as part of the National Clinical Audit Programme, the National Early Inflammatory Arthritis Audit is carried out by BSR with support from King's College London and Netsolving.

The audit generates service-level data across England and Wales, benchmarked to regional and national comparators against NICE Quality Standard 33 and other key metrics.

Data is collected for patients with a diagnosis of Early Inflammatory Arthritis (EIA) across 12 months, assessing waiting times, time to treatment, clinical response to treatment and patient-reported outcomes.

The audit now also collects data at diagnosis for some rare immune mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs).

Journal Article Collection
dedicated collection showcasing the latest research from the NEIAA is available. Explore the most up to date NEIAA research in our BSR journals, which highlight the latest research informed by national clinical audit data on the referral, assessment, treatment, and outcomes of adults living with inflammatory arthritis in England and Wales.

NEIAA Clinician Website

NEIAA Patient Website

The NEIAA aims to improve the quality of care for people living with rheumatic diseases by collecting demographic and care quality data on all eligible newly diagnosed patients over the age of 16 in rheumatology departments across England and Wales. 

Diagnoses required for enrolment in the audit include inflammatory arthritides, systemic vasculitides and connective tissue diseases. Data are collected over the first 12 months of care for all those recruited. These data assess:

- Waiting times
- Time to treatment
- Clinical response to treatment
- Patient-reported outcomes
    Find out more
    Year 6 Report

    Access the report here

    Download the report

    Report and appendices

    Acknowledgements

    This report was prepared by members of the NEIAA Operations Team, using data provided by patients and staff within the NHS. The key messages and national recommendations have been co-produced with the NEIAA Senior Governance Group, Project Working Group and Patient Panel. The continued success of this national clinical audit is due to the hard work and commitment of the rheumatology clinical community and patients, and everybody who gives their time to support the BSR audit team. Thank you.

    We are particularly grateful to all the clinical and administrative staff and patients who contribute data to NEIAA during what continues to be a challenging time in healthcare.

    King’s College London (KCL)

    The Centre for Rheumatic Diseases at King’s College London has provided methodological and analytical support for NEIAA from its outset.

    Net Solving

    Established in 2001, Net Solving has spent over a decade perfecting the art of clinical data collection. It has revolutionised the way clinical data collection is conducted by pioneering the move to integrated online data collection methods, leveraging the latest technology to provide highly accurate data collection and analysis. Its market-leading platform CaseCapture™ is the culmination of 15 years’ experience in creating many of the largest clinical data collection web platforms in the UK and worldwide. Net Solving is wholly committed to its continuing work with BSR on NEIAA.

    Methods and Measuring the data

    References

    • References: References used throughout the Year 6 report

    Governance and Patient Involvement

    NEIAA is carried out by the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) with support from King’s College London and Netsolving.

    BSR is the leading UK specialist medical society for rheumatology and musculoskeletal (MSK) care professionals. We support our members to deliver the best care at all stages of the care pathway, improving the lives of children and adults with rheumatic and MSK disease.

    NEIAA has an independent patient panel, who have reviewed and contributed to key messages and national recommendations, and whose Chair and Deputy Chair sit on the Project Working Group.

    The patient panel comprises:
    - Paul Amlani-Hatcher (Chair)
    - Roger Stevens (Deputy Chair)
    - Kate Wilkins
    - Ruth Williams
    - Tom Esterine

    The NEIAA senior governance and project working groups, convened by BSR, are composed of members of the rheumatology community, including representatives across the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) as well as patient charities. They contributed towards the key messages and national recommendations in the 2024 state of the nation summary report and provide ongoing support and guidance to the BSR team.

    Senior Governance Group
    - Jo Ledingham, President, BSR (Chair) 
    - Sarah Campbell, CEO, BSR (Deputy Chair) 
    - Ayas Syed, Assistant divisional director, scheduled care, ABUHB 
    - Callum Coalwood, Clinical Audit Project Manager (Maternity Cover), BSR 
    - Dale Webb CEO, National Axial Spondyloarthritis Society (NASS)
    - Elizabeth Price, BSR Clinical Audit Lead  
    - Ella Jackson, Director of Practice and Quality, BSR 
    - Gráinne Farrell, Clinical Audit Administrator (Maternity Cover), BSR
    - James Galloway, Lead Methodologist, KCL 
    - Karen Hodgson, Head of Health Intelligence, Versus Arthritis
    - Lesley Kay, Getting IT Right First Time (GIRFT) Clinical Lead 
    - Meinir Jones, NHS Wales
    - Natalia Plejic, Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) Project Manager 
    - Paul Amlani-Hatcher, Chair, NEIAA Patient Panel
    - Peter Foxton, CEO National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS) 
    - Peter Lanyon, Getting IT Right First Time (GIRFT) Clinical Lead 
    - Rachael Sample, Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) Associate Director  
    - Robert Letchford, NHS Wales, Funder Representative Co-Lead
    - Shouvik Dass, NHS England Funder Representative
    - Zoe McLaren, Chair, BSR Clinical Affairs Committee
    - Jack Buck, Head of External Affairs, BSR

    Project Working Group

    - Elizabeth Price, BSR Clinical Audit Lead (Chair) 
    - Zoe McLaren, Chair, BSR Clinical Affairs Committee (Deputy chair) 
    - Callum Coalwood, BSR Project Manager (Maternity Cover)
    - Ceril Rhys-Dillon, NHS Wales
    - Charlotte Sharp, BSR QI SIG; Consultant Rheumatologist
    - Di Finney, Nurse representative
    - Ed Alvelyn, Clinical Fellow, KCL 
    - Ella Jackson, Director of Practice and Quality, BSR
    - Georgina Ducker, Nurse representative
    - Gráinne Farrell, Clinical Audit Administrator (Maternity Cover), BSR
    - Ilfita Sahbudin, Trainee representative with QI interest
    - James Galloway, Lead Methodologist, KCL 
    - Karl Gaffney, Consultant rheumatologist, AxSpA representative  
    - Michael Li, Health Intelligence Manager, Versus Arthritis
    - Paul Amlani-Hatcher, Patient Panel Chair 
    - Roger Stevens, Patient Panel Deputy Chair 
    - Shirish Dubey, Consultant rheumatologist, Systemic Vasculitis and CTD representative 
    - Sue Farrington, Co-Chair of RAIRDA
    - Jack Buck, Head of External Affairs, BSR

    2023

    This report was prepared by members of the NEIAA Operations Team, using data provided by patients and staff within the NHS. The key messages and national recommendations have been co-produced with the NEIAA Senior Governance Group, Project Working Group and Patient Panel. The continued success of this national clinical audit is due to the hard work and commitment of the rheumatology clinical community and patients, and everybody who gives their time to support the BSR audit team. Thank you.
    We are particularly grateful to all the clinical and administrative staff and patients who contribute data to NEIAA during what continues to be a challenging time in healthcare.

    King’s College London (KCL)

    The Centre for Rheumatic Diseases at King’s College London has provided methodological and analytical support for NEIAA from its outset.

    Net Solving

    Established in 2001, Net Solving has spent over a decade perfecting the art of clinical data collection. It has revolutionised the way clinical data collection is conducted by pioneering the move to integrated online data collection methods, leveraging the latest technology to provide highly accurate data collection and analysis. Its market-leading platform CaseCapture™ is the culmination of 15 years’ experience in creating many of the largest clinical data collection web platforms in the UK and worldwide. Net Solving is wholly committed to its continuing work with BSR on NEIAA.

    NEIAA is carried out by the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) with support from King’s College London and Netsolving.
    BSR is the leading UK specialist medical society for rheumatology and musculoskeletal (MSK) care professionals. We support our members to deliver the best care at all stages of the care pathway, improving the lives of children and adults with rheumatic and MSK disease. NEIAA has an independent patient panel, who have reviewed and contributed to key messages and national recommendations, and whose Chair and Deputy Chair sit on the Project Working Group.

    The patient panel comprises:
    - Paul Amlani-Hatcher (Chair)
    - Roger Stevens (Deputy Chair)
    - Kate Wilkins
    - Ruth Williams
    - Tom Esterine

    The NEIAA senior governance and project working groups, convened by BSR, are composed of members of the rheumatology community, including representatives across the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) as well as patient charities. They contributed towards the key messages and national recommendations in this State of the Nation report and provide ongoing support and guidance to the BSR team to ensure the programme is clinical-led, relevant, impactful and stays on track.

    Senior Governance Group

    - Jo Ledingham; Former NEIAA Clinical Lead and Incumbent President, BSR (Incumbent Chair)
    - Sanjeev Patel; Former President, BSR (Former Chair) 
    - Sarah Campbell; Former Director of Practice and Quality and Incumbent Chief Executive, BSR (Incumbent Vice-Chair)
    - Ali Rivett; Former CEO, BSR (Former Vice-Chair) 
    - Ayas Syed; Assistant divisional director, scheduled care, ABUHB
    - Clare Jacklin; CEO, National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS)
    - Dale Webb; CEO, National Axial Spondyloarthritis Society (NASS)
    - Zoe McLaren; Chair, BSR Clinical Affairs Committee
    - Gary MacFarlane, Chief Investigator, BSRBR-AS (UoA)
    - James Galloway; NEIAA Lead Methodologist, KCL
    - Elizabeth Price, NEIAA Clinical Lead, BSR
    - Neena Garnavos; Head of Quality Improvement, BSR
    - Natalia Plejic; Project Manager, HQIP 
    - Peter Lanyon; Clinical Lead, GIRFT
    - Rachael Ward-Sample; Associate Director, HQIP
    - Sarah Gallagher, Clinical Audit Project Manager, BSR
    - Callum Coalwood, Clinical Audit Administrator, BSR
    - Debbie Wilson, Head of Quality Improvement (Maternity Cover), BSR
    - Sam McIntyre, Director of Practice and Quality, BSR
    - Shouvik Dass, NHS England
    - Meinir Jones, NHS Wales
    - Robert Letchford, NHS Wales
    - Andrew Bennett, National Clinical Director Musculoskeletal Conditions, NHS England
    - Michael Ly, Versus Arthritis

    Project Working Group
    - Elizabeth Price, NEIAA Clinical Lead, BSR (Incumbent Chair)
    - Jo Ledingham; Former NEIAA Clinical Lead and Incumbent President, BSR (Former Chair)
    - Zoe McLaren; Chair, BSR Clinical Affairs Committee
    - Sarah Gallagher, Clinical Audit Project Manager, BSR
    - Callum Coalwood, Clinical Audit Administrator, BSR
    - James Galloway; NEIAA Lead Methodologist, KCL
    - Sarah Campbell; Former Director of Practice and Quality and Incumbent Chief Executive, BSR
    - Neena Garnavos; Head of Quality Improvement, BSR
    - Debbie Wilson, Head of Quality Improvement (Maternity Cover), BSR
    - Ed Alveyn, Clinical Fellow, KCL
    - Lola Birch, Former Clinical QI Fellow, BSR
    - Elizabeth Macphie, Consultant Rheumatologist
    - Charlotte Sharp, Consultant Rheumatologist
    - Ilfita Shabudin, Trainee Representative
    - Paul Amlani-Hatcher, Chair, NEIAA Patient Panel
    - Roger Stevens, Vice-Chair, NEIAA Patient Panel
    - Martin Cripps, Director, Netsolving
    - Karen Hodgson, Head of Health Intelligence, Versus Arthritis
    - Diana Finney, Nurse Representative
    - Georgina Ducker, Nurse Representative
    - Jill Firth, Nursing/AHP representative
    - Fiona Cramp, Nursing/AHP representative
    - Karl Gaffney, Consultant Rheumatologist, AxSpA Representative

    2022

    • Clinical annual report: analyses data from 11,722 patients, who were recruited between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022. Find out more
    • Patient and public annual report: focused look at patients referred with suspected inflammatory arthritis, seen in a rheumatology clinic for the first time and followed up over three months. Find out more
    • Supplementary report: displays data from the year 4 annual report by NHS region. Find out more
    • Trust and health board data: provider-level organisational data and performance against each of the 2013 NICE Quality Statements. Find out more
    • Annual report slide deck: key findings from the first year of the NEIAA (for presentations). Find out more
    • Ethnicity report: explores the association between ethnicity and experience of care using data from May 2018 until March 2020. Find out more
    • Supplementary report: contains further data tables to supplement the ethnicity report. Find out more

    2021

    • Clinical annual report: analyses data from 13,578 patients, who were recruited between 8 May 2019 – 7 May 2020. Find out more
    • Patient and public annual report: focused look at patients referred with suspected inflammatory arthritis, seen in a rheumatology clinic for the first time and followed up over three months. Find out more
    • Trust and health board data: provider-level admission, annual review and disease activity score data.. Find out more

    2020

    • Supplementary report: focusing on the seventh metric (annual reviews) alongside 12-month clinician- and patient-reported outcome data. Find out more
    • Trust and health board data: provider-level admission, annual review and disease activity score data. Find out more

    2019

    • Clinical annual report: analyses data from 20,668 patients, who were recruited between 8 May 2018 and 7 May 2019. Find out more
    • Patient and public annual report: focused look at patients referred with suspected inflammatory arthritis, seen in a rheumatology clinic for the first time and followed up over three months. Find out more
    • Trust and health board data: provider-level organisational data and performance against each of the 2018 NICE Quality Statements. Find out more
    • Annual report slideset: key findings from the first year of the NEIAA (for presentations). Find out more

    2016

    • Clinical annual report: analyses data from 5,002 patients, who were recruited between 1 February 2015 and 29 January 2016. Find out more
    • Patient annual report: assesses the early management of patients referred to rheumatology providers with suspected inflammatory arthritis. Find out more
    • 2016 annual report presentation of key findings. Find out more
    • 2015 clinical annual report: analyses data on 6,354 patients, who were recruited to the audit between 1 February 2014 and 31 January 2015. Find out more
    • 2015 patient annual report: in-depth look at patients over 16 years of age in England and Wales with suspected rheumatoid or other types of early inflammatory arthritis within the crucial first three months of referral to a specialist. Find out more
    • 2015 annual report presentation of key findings: Find out more
    • 2014-16 National Clinical Audit for Rheumatoid and Early Inflammatory Arthritis case studies: Find out more