25 June 2026
Clinical Audit Awareness Week (22-26 June) coincides this year with the release of the Annual Impact Report for the National Early Inflammatory Autoimmune Diseases Audit (NEIAA). Your data submissions have made a huge difference to the national picture, as well as improving real world outcomes. Let’s review some of the key takeaways from the Impact Report, as well as highlighting some further information about the audit.
NEIAA Annual Impact Report key takeaways:
• 119 trusts and health boards; 96% national participation
• 7 years of continuous data collection
• 7,565 patients recruited in Year 7
• 7+ peer-reviewed papers in 2025 across 6+ institutions
This year, with the expanded scope and reach of the audit (now with data on rare diseases such as vasculitis and lupus), we can access national benchmarking on lesser seen autoimmune diseases for the first time. The addition of Jersey, joining NEIAA from April 2025, further extends coverage beyond just England and Wales.
NEIAA continues to impact national policy and guidance:
• A designated data source for NICE Quality Standards 33 and 214 (rheumatoid arthritis in over-16s, and rare diseases)
• NEIAA informed DMARD prescribing guidelines
• Aligned with the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Further Faster programme to reduce unwarranted variation
• Prediction tool aligns with the government's Get Britain Working programme (646,000 economically inactive due to MSK across the UK; £259m WorkWell rollout in England)
NEIAA impact on understanding employment and inflammatory arthritis
Using NEIAA, an analysis of 1,662 employed adults was conducted and found that:
• 1 in 10 lose their job within 3 months of diagnosis.
• Manual workers are nearly twice as likely to lose work as non-manual workers (14.1% vs 7.8%)
• 1 in 5 workers aged 60+ lost employment
• 83.5% of job loss is driven by structural factors (workplace policies, job characteristics) i.e. largely preventable
Real outcomes from real data
Services can use NEIAA data to improve pathways, processes and outcomes, exemplified by the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, now recording:
• 98.3% of patients seen within 3 weeks (compared to 55.7% previously)
• 95.7% of patients receiving DMARDs within 6 weeks (compared to 73.8% previously)
• 41.4% of patients achieving remission at 3 months (compared to 36.2% previously)
These aren’t just numbers, they represent real patient outcomes, improving due to the Leicester team’s consistent performance reviews using NEIAA data.
NEIAA is a crucial tool that provides a clear view of what is working well and where improvement is needed most, enabling healthcare professionals to raise standards, reduce variation in care, and ensure every patient receives the best possible treatment.
For more information on NEIAA, please see:
Additional Blog Posts:
New Q&A Interview with Dr Elizabeth Price, the NEIAA Clinical Lead
Watch here
And stay tuned for a Podcast interview with Leicester team coming soon!