Ethnicity data audit in a secondary care gastroenterology service

To audit the quality of ethnicity data stored under National Health Index (NHI) in the Hutt Hospital database against a fresh collection of self-identified ethnicity to identify the level of (mis)match present between the datasets.

Self-identified ethnicity data was collected from 200 consecutive patients presenting to outpatient gastroenterology services and compared to National Health Index (NHI) in the Hutt Hospital database, using the process outlined in the Primary Care Ethnicity Data Audit Toolkit.

The overall level of match between the individual's self-identified ethnicity and that recorded in the hospital database was 89% (95% CI [83.8-93.0]). Eighteen patients (9%) self-identified as Māori, 16.7% (95% CI [3.6-41.4]) of whom were not recorded as Māori in the hospital database. Three patients were recorded as Māori in the hospital database but did not self-identify as Māori.

Ethnicity data are fundamental to the monitoring and provision of equitable health and healthcare, with a range of applications in the health sector. Our findings of poor-quality ethnicity data for Māori in a hospital NHI database are consistent with previous studies. The assessment of ethnicity data quality must be done in multiple ways to reflect its multiple uses.