Question 1

What is the NAHD?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 2

What is clinical audit?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 3

Who Manages the NAHD?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 4

Why do we carry out this clinical audit?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 5

Who can take part in the NADH?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 6

How are patient data collected?

Accepted Answer

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, 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.

Question 7

How can a patient opt-out of their data being used in national audits?

Accepted Answer

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 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/

For more information see the Privacy Policy.

Question 8

What time period does the National Audit of Migraine use data on?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 9

Who benefits from this audit?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 10

How are patients involved in the NAHD?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 11

Where can I find out more information about migraine and other headache disorders?

Accepted Answer

The following websites provide general information and support about migraine and headaches:
•       Migraine Trust 
•       Association of Migraine Disorders 
•       NHS website  
•       OUCH UK 
•       Trigeminal Neuralgia Association

Question 12

How much does it cost to participate in the National Audit of Migraine?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 13

I have a question that is not answered in the FAQs

Accepted Answer

For patient information about the NAHD, please read our patient information leaflet.
For all queries related to the NAHD, please contact us.

NAHD

National Audit of Headache Disorders

Frequently asked questions for the public

Frequently asked questions