APPENDIX 1 THE BASIC BASKET OF INDICATORS

Indicator Construction Comments/data sources

A1 No. of days absent For operational management can also
No. of staff explore days of week on which
absences occur; frequency of absences
of an individual; distribution of absences
by duration
Need to consider how secondment/
maternity leave handled in definitions

A2 No. of vacancies > 1 month in length Number of posts vacant each month for
Total vacancies in month over one month. For national level can
be averaged over 12 months.

A3 Total vacancies Number of filled posts each month,

Total budgeted positions averaged over 12 months.
Staff records

A4 Annual budget on staff Annual

Total health budget

A5 Staff reviews completed Definition of ‘review’ must be very

Total staff to be reviewed specific

A6 No. documented supervision sessions For supervision outside home facility

No. people to be supervised

B1 No. of training days

No. of people trained

B2 No. of staff planned to receive training Difficult to establish need in a consistent

No. of staff needing training way

B3 No. of staff who have received training ‘Training’ must be defined nationally and
No. of staff planned to receive training by staff group.

B4 No. staff with required qualifications

No. staff needed with req. qualifications

B5 No. staff with updated job description Where updated job description stresses
Total no. staff that staff development & consideration
of organization’s needs are reviewed
One may also look at proportion of all
job descriptions updated in the past
year
Link with appraisal is advisable

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B6 Time spent training Disaggregated by staff grouping?
Total available work time Definition of ‘training’ to be consistent
across districts

B7 No. part-time staff

Total staff
or
No. full-time staff
Total staff

B8 No. hours worked Indicates degree of ‘work overload’ in

No. FTE working hours current workforce
(FTE=Full Time Equivalent staff)

C1 No. of promotions
No. of positions

C2 No. of staff awarded bonus Will be country-specific as some

No. of staff countries award bonuses automatically

C3 Average salary [by staff group] Trying to measure ‘ability to survive on

(Cost of living indicator)
salary’,; must take into account free
housing & other benefits. Average
national salary may not be appropriate
denominator
Average income of others with a similar
length of education also suggested

C4 No. of staff in work-related accidents Can be subdivided into accident types

Total no. of staff or infection types (eg HIV+ infection
rates; back-pain rates)

C5 No. of formal complaints made by staff

No. of staff
Also suggested as ‘more positive’:
No. of formal complaints made by staff
No. of suggestions made staff

C6 No. of assaults on staff Indicator of security. Possible

No. of staff disaggregation male/ female.

C7 No. of queries on performance

No. of staff

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 C8 No. of staff leaving each month May be by different staff grouping
Total staff each month and by length of service. Can be used
locally on a monthly basis
Turnover rate

C9 No. of outside visits Consistent definition of ‘outside’ visit?

Total staff (i.e. visits to other health districts for
(indication of broadening experience) training/ work)
May be subsumed under B indicators
above.

C10 No. days uncertified absence Personnel records for uncertified leave.
Total available staff days By different staff group?
May be subsumed under A indicators
above.

D1 No. professional health staff Definition of ‘professional’ [eg doctors,

Total staff nurses, other trained staff] needs
clarification
Total staff includes professional, other
skilled, & unskilled/ non-clinical staff

E1 No. of [inpatient/outpatient] contacts

Total staff in [inpatients/ outpatients]

E2 No. of patient contacts Definition of professional staff must be

Professional staff consistent with other indicators using
that term
Can be separated by inpatients/
outpatients

E3 Overtime costs Total amount of money spent on

Total staff costs overtime payments
Definition of over-time needs
clarification
Can be extended to cover individual
staff groups
F1 No. staff covered by social insurance
Total staff Can also consider pension insurance as a
separate indicator
F2 No. patient contact hours
No. working hours Only for staff who must travel to see
patients. It may help to point up
transport issues. Other transport/ travel
indicators may be more direct

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F3 No. of times staff paid on time Depends on when staff get paid - may
No. of payment days need disaggregation if different staff get
paid at different times. Only for staff on
‘regular’ payroll, not temporary staff.

F4 No. of staff with housing Housing provided by the health district.

Total staff

F5 Time spent travelling on behalf of work Trained staff with mobile assignments
Total working time from main base to outlying locations

G1 No. children <1 immunised No. of doses administered to children

No. health staff <1 year old
Implies targets for staff rather than
immunization coverage (which would
have no. children <1yr in denominator)
(WHO recommended indicator: A4.2
p20, WHO Catalogue of Health
Indicators)

G2 Births attend. by trained health personnel Denominator must be live plus still
Total births births otherwise indicator is over-
estimated.
Trained attendant means doctor or
other attendant with midwifery skills
training. (excludes family, traditional
birth attendant)
Household survey
May fit better in group E indicators.
(WHO recommended indicator: B2.5
p59, WHO Catalogue of Health
Indicators)

H1 Live births Total live births as percentage of all

Total births births

H2 No. of deaths of children <1 year old Measured over a given period of time
No. of live births (eg 1 year) (WHO recommended
indicator: A6.1 p33)
Infant mortality rate

H3 No. of deaths Must be age/sex standardized

Total population (thousands) Mortality rate

H4 No. of women of child-bearing age

No. trained birth attendants/ midwives

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 H5 No. of cross-infections Standardized cross-infection rate
No. of hospital patients (hospital only)
Can be weekly/ monthly

H6 No. of Caesarean deliveries

No. of live births

I1 Domiciliary visits
Total staff

I2 Family planning clinics

Total working time

I3 No. staff trained in health education Need to define health education duties
Total staff

J1 Total patients Need to define ‘skilled’ staff

Total skilled staff

J2 Total population Need to define ‘skilled’ staff

Total skilled staff

K1 Clinic attendances Need to define ‘professional’ staff

No. of professional staff

K2 Skilled staff
Total staff

K3 Primary health care attendances

Total staff

K4 Bed turnover Need to define ‘skilled’ staff

Total skilled staff

K5 No. of major operations

No. of minor operations

L2 Total staff budget To include inpatient episodes, outpatient

Total no. patient contacts & domiciliary contacts
(Staff costs per case)

L3 Total staff [by staff groups] Eg by doctors, nurses, other professional

Total population groups

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