Frequently asked questions for Professionals

The National Audit of Headache Disorder (NAHD) is a clinical audit to evaluate the quality of care provided to adult headache patients across UK. A key aspect of the Audit is to describe patterns of care across UK. The NHAD started in October 2024. The first programme of the NAHD is the National Migraine Audit and Registry which aims to evaluate the quality of care provided to adult migraine patients across UK.

The NAHD, including the National Migraine Audit and Registry, are funded following fundraising by King’s College London (KCL). AbbVie and Pfizer have provided funding to KCL to support the development of the National Migraine Audit and Registry.

The NAHD is a national clinical audit run by the steering committee of the NADH. The NAHD, including the National Migraine Audit are hosted by King’s College London. Day to day running of the NAHD is managed by the Headache Research Project Team at the King’s College London. King's College London has a contract with AVEGEN, which is acting as the data processor.

We want to support the improvement of primary and secondary care for headache patients. Research shows that there are differences in the care given to patients across the UK. The NAHD aimes to find out what these differences are and to understand why these differences are happening. We plan to share our findings with hospitals and health care polciy makers across UK . In particular, we want to inform them about the areas of headache and migraine care that they were doing well in and where they could improve.

Currently we run the National Audit for Migraine. All migraine patients who received a migraine diagnosis at an NHS clinic in England, Wales, Scotland and North Ireland can participated in the National Migraine Audit. All healthcare providers who are involved in the management of migraine patients in the NHS can register in the website, and to use the HealthMachine platform for visualising e-diary inputs from patients who are connected with them.

The National Audit for Migraine and Registry collects data directly from patients who consent to participate and share their data through the Migriane Audit e-Diary app and the history tool in the website. Any data provided will be processed in accordance with UK data protection law including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. Findings from the National Audit for Migraine will be published on this website. More information on how we manage data can be found in our privacy policy.(https://www.headacheaudit.org.uk/_files/ugd/403e00_719866b4d10a43638fdfa22c5d3633c8.pdf) How King’s College London manages data can be found here K(https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/research-environment/rgei/research-ethics/use-of-personal-data-in-research#:~:text=Under%20UK%20data%20protection%20law,the%20Principal%20Investigator%20takes%20responsibility.)ing’s College London Statement on Use of Personal Data in Research.(https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/research-environment/rgei/research-ethics/use-of-personal-data-in-research#:~:text=Under%20UK%20data%20protection%20law,the%20Principal%20Investigator%20takes%20responsibility.)

How can a patient opt-out of their data being used in national audits? The national data opt-out allows patients to opt-out of their information being used for purposes other than their immediate clinical care (such as for audit and research purposes). All NHS organisations are required to be compliant with the national data opt-out policy. For more information on the national data opt-out, please visit the NHS website: https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/(https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/) For national clinical audits such as the National Audit for Migraine and Registry, where patient reported outcomes are collected, patients are given the opportunity to consent for their data to be used for the purposes of the National Audit for Migraine and Registry. Their rights, and how to opt-out can be found in our privacy policy. For more information see the privacy policy.(https://www.headacheaudit.org.uk/_files/ugd/403e00_719866b4d10a43638fdfa22c5d3633c8.pdf)

The National Migraine Audit collects data submitted via the MigraineAudit app from adults diagnosed and treated in UK with migraine. The collected participants reported outcomes include amongst others: • Information about the clinical setting participant is receiving their migraine care from. • Information about the diagnosis of migraine, and previous investigations • Information about past treatments • Information about current treatments • Information about adverse events from current treatments • Headache impact test questionnaire outcomes • Visits to A&E because of migraine • Work absenteeism because of migraine

All NHS healthcare providers are expected to participate in National Clinical Audits, including the NAHD. Further information about national clinical audits is available on the HQIP website.(http://www.hqip.org.uk/national-clinical-audits-for-inclusion-in-quality-accounts/) The National Audit for Headache Disorders and its workstream National Audit for Migraine are included in the HQIP direcotry.

Unlike many other national clinical audits, the NAHD does not directly ‘collect’ patient data and so there was no submission of cases to us as such. We therefore don’t have the information to tell you how many cases were submitted for your trust.

For all queries related to the NADH, please contact us.(migraineaudit@kcl.ac.uk)

The National Audit of Headache Disorder (NAHD) is a clinical audit to evaluate the quality of care provided to adult migraine patients across UK. A key aspect of the audit is to describe patterns of care across UK. The NHAD started in October 2024. The first programme of the NAHD is the National Migraine Audit and Registry.

Clinical audit is a tool used by health care professionals to monitor and improve patient care by comparing how patients are treated and their outcomes against explicit standards or guidelines. In a clinical audit, information on the care received by patients is collected and analysed to see if clinicians and hospitals are following national clinical standards, such as those published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). These audits usually also produce information for hospitals to compare their outcomes of care with other hospitals.

The NAHD is a national audit run by the steering committee of the NADH. The NAHD, including the National Migraine Audit are hosted by King’s College London. Day to day running of the NAHD is managed by the Headache Research Team at the King’s College London.

We want to support the improvement of primary and secondary care for headache patients. Research shows that there are differences in the care given to patients across the UK. The NAHD aimes to find out what these differences are and to understand why these differences are happening. We plan to share our findings with hospitals and health care policy makers across UK . In particular, we want to inform them about the areas of headache and migraine care that they were doing well in and where they could improve.

Currently we run the National Audit for Migraine. All migraine patients who received a migraine diagnosis at an NHS clinic in England, Wales, Scotland and North Ireland can participated in the National Migraine Audit. To participate in the Audit please download the Audit's migraine app, and agree to the Terms and Conditions and Consent form.

The National Audit for Migraine and Registry collects data directly from patients who consent to participate and share their data through the Migraine Audit e-Diary app and the history tool in the website. Any data provided will be processed in accordance with UK data protection law including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We also collect aggregated data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink | CPRD,(https://www.cprd.com/) which provides anonymised healthcare data and research services that are used to improve health care delivery and inform clinical guidance. Findings from the National Audit for Migraine will be published on this website. More information on how King’s College London manages data can be found in our Privacy Policy.(https://www.headacheaudit.org.uk/_files/ugd/403e00_719866b4d10a43638fdfa22c5d3633c8.pdf)

The national data opt-out allows patients to opt-out of their information being used for purposes other than their immediate clinical care (such as for audit and research purposes). Please email us at migraineaudit@kcl.ac.uk (migraineaudit@kcl.ac.uk)with any enquiries. All NHS organisations are required to be compliant with the national data opt-out policy. For more information on the national data opt-out, please visit the NHS website: https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/(https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/) For more information see the Privacy Policy.(https://www.headacheaudit.org.uk/_files/ugd/403e00_719866b4d10a43638fdfa22c5d3633c8.pdf)

We used data collected on patients who were diagnosed with migraine or other headache disorders from 30th of September 2024 onwards and received care in NHS hospitals across the UK.

The aim of the audit is to improve the care received by patients with migraine, by making recommendations to primary and secondary services based on our findings. For example, the National Audit for migraine can make recommendations on: • How and when migraine patients are diagnosed and how their care is managed • The type of treatments the patients receive • The use of brain imaging for headache disorders

We work closely with patient representatives and patient charities on many aspects throughout the project, from deciding what information to collect, to how the results are reported.

The following websites provide general information and support about migraine and headaches: • Migraine Trust (https://migrainetrust.org/) • Association of Migraine Disorders (https://www.migrainedisorders.org/education/patient-resources/) • N(https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/migraine/)HS website (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/migraine/) • O(https://ouchuk.org/)UCH UK (https://ouchuk.org/) • Trigeminal Neuralgia Association (https://www.tna.org.uk/)

Participation to the Audit is free, including the use of the audit tools such as the Migraine Audit e-diary app.

For patient information about the NAHD, please read our patient information leaflet.(https://www.nabcop.org.uk/resources/nabcop-patient-information-leaflet/) For all queries related to the NAHD, please contact us.(migraineaudit@kcl.ac.uk)