09 October 2025
The National Early Inflammatory Autoimmune Diseases Audit (NEIAA) collects data on newly diagnosed patients across England, Wales and, from April 2025, Jersey. The audit measures how services are performing against NICE quality standards and provides public dashboards with near real-time data to drive local and national quality improvement.
The latest NEIAA Annual Report has been published. Here are the top five most important findings from this year’s report.
1. Timeliness of treatment is moving in the right direction
60% of patients now receive DMARD treatment within 6 weeks of referral, compared to 53 percent in year one. Progress is being made, but there is still variation across services.
What to do next: Use the dashboard to see how your service compares nationally and where delays might still be occurring.
2. Remission rates are static, but variation is striking
Three-month remission remains at 34% nationally. However, results vary considerably between services, showing that higher outcomes are achievable.
What to do next: Examine your local remission rates against the national benchmark. Identify opportunities to learn from services achieving higher rates.
3. Longer symptom duration at diagnosis post-COVID
38% of patients now report symptoms lasting 6 months or more before referral. It is not yet clear whether this is due to delays in patient presentation or recognition in primary care.
What to do next: Engage with local primary care colleagues to explore how referral times can be shortened.
4. RAIRD waiting times remain inconsistent
Waiting times for rare autoimmune rheumatic diseases are highly variable. For conditions where delays can have serious outcomes, this remains a significant concern.
What to do next: Use audit data and guidance to support service development and highlight unmet need in business cases.
5. Leicester shows what transformation looks like
University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust was identified as an outlier in 2023. By redesigning their service, they achieved faster assessments, quicker treatment and better remission outcomes within a year.
What to do next: Explore case studies on the NEIAA site to see how others have used data to drive measurable improvements.
Why the dashboard is essential
The NEIAA Dashboard provides:
- National and local benchmarking at a glance
- Insight into variation in performance and outcomes
- Real-time data to support continuous improvement
- Evidence to underpin QI projects and service redesign
The report shows progress, variation and opportunity. The NEIAA Dashboard turns this into actionable insight for your team. Engaging with the data can directly improve care for people with inflammatory arthritis and RAIRDs.
Read the full report here
Explore the NEIAA Dashboard here