NICOR News
NICOR statement - Paediatric cardiac surgery
NICOR (the National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research) analyses data submitted by NHS clinicians about heart disease patients' quality of care and outcomes. NICOR is committed to providing appropriately analysed, accurate outcome data in a timely manner which is understandable by the public, healthcare providers and the medical profession. We work closely with the specialist Clinical Societies. More...
Published: Apr 12, 2013 2:48:03 PM
MINAP and National Heart Failure Audit Patient Reports
Cardiac patients and their families are set to receive a major boost in information about heart conditions with the launch today of the two major patient-focused reports covering heart attack and heart failure care. More...
Published: Jan 30, 2013 4:45:25 PM
National Audit of Percutaneous Coronary Interventional Procedures Public Report 2011
Published: Jan 29, 2013 7:06:02 AM
National Heart Failure Audit 2011/12 Annual Report
The National Heart Failure Audit 2011/12 Annual Report was published on 27th November 2012. More...
Published: Nov 27, 2012 9:29:41 AM
11th MINAP Public Report
Myocardial Ischaemia National Audit Project (MINAP) has published its 11th Annual Public Report reporting on performance against national standards for hospitals that admit patients with a heart attack. More...
Published: Nov 15, 2012 12:24:33 AM
SLMS news
Post-mortem MRI: a viable alternative to an autopsy
May 17, 2013 16:17PM
Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and blood tests to establish the cause of death in fetuses and newborn babies is virtually as accurate as a standard autopsy, according to a paper published in The Lancet .
Read more...Grassroots women’s groups could halve maternal death rate
May 17, 2013 11:06AM
Women’s groups can dramatically reduce the number of maternal and newborn deaths in some of the world’s poorest communities, according to a new meta-analysis published in The Lancet .
Read more...Global health policy fails to address burden of disease on men
May 17, 2013 00:30AM
Men experience a higher burden of disease and lower life expectancy than women, but policies focusing on the health needs of men are notably absent from the strategies of global health organisations, according to a Viewpoint article in this week’s Lancet .
Read more...Adult Cardiac Surgery
The information that has been made available on data.gov.uk comes from the National Adult Cardiac Surgery Audit 2010/11 Annual Report, and can be found here.
The National Adult Cardiac Surgery Audit is publishing hospital level analysis from its 2010/11 Annual Report on data.gov.uk in order to increase the public availability of information pertaining to adult cardiac surgery in England.
- National Adult Cardiac Surgery Audit annual report 2010/11 (pdf)
- National Adult Cardiac Surgery Audit home page
What information is being made available?
- Activity and crude mortality for emergency and salvage operations
- Isolated first-time Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) by operative urgency
- Activity and risk adjusted mortality isolated first time Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG)
- Activity and risk adjusted mortality isolated first-time Aortic Valve Replacement (AVR)
- Risk Factor data completeness
These data do not include any data about individual patients nor does it contain any patient identifiable data.
Using and interpreting the data
- The data contained in the CSV files were first published in June 2012 in the National Adult Cardiac Surgery Audit Annual report 2010-11.
- Data from National Adult Cardiac Surgery Audit Annual report 2010-11 requires careful interpretation, and the information should not be looked at in isolation when assessing standards of care.
- Data are provided by NHS hospitals in England and relate to patients that received major heart surgery between 1st April 2008 and 31st March 2011.
Accessing the data
Each year data from the National Adult Cardiac Surgery Audit will be made available in CSV file format. The data are also being made available on the data.gov.uk website.
At what level is the data reported?
All data is reported at hospital level for practices in England that provide major heart surgery services.
What period does the data cover?
1st April 2008 – 31st March 2011.
What does the data cover?
The National Adult Cardiac Surgery Audit data homepage on data.gov.uk can be found here:
Activity and crude mortality for emergency and salvage operations
These hospital level data show the percentage of patients who died in hospital after having heart surgery described as ‘emergency’ or ‘salvage’.
Emergency surgery is carried out on un-planned patients who are sick enough to require surgery regardless of the time of day or day of the week.
Salvage surgery is carried out on un-planned patients who are sick enough to need cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the way to the operating theatre before being put under general anaesthetic.
Because we are unable to
accurately adjust the mortality rates for emergency and salvage operations, the
crude (actual) mortality rate has been provided for surgery that was carried
out under these circumstances.
Isolated first-time coronary artery bypass grafting by operative urgency
These hospital level data show the breakdown of all coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery by operative urgency.
Elective surgery is carried out on patients who are a routine admission from the waiting list.
Urgent surgery is carried out on patients who haven’t been scheduled for routine admission from the waiting list, but instead need heart surgery during their current hospital admission. These patients can’t be sent home before having the procedure.
Emergency surgery is carried out on un-planned patients who are sick enough to require surgery regardless of the time of day or day of the week.
Salvage surgery is carried out on un-planned patients who are sick enough to need cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the way to the operating theatre before being put under general anaesthetic.
The percentage of CABG
operations that fall under each of these operative urgency definitions is given,
along with the total number of operations.
Activity and risk adjusted mortality isolated first time coronary artery bypass grafting
These hospital level data show the number of isolated first-time Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) operations carried out, and the percentage of patients having this type of surgery who died after the procedure.
The coronary arteries are the vessels that deliver oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle. Certain medical conditions can cause these vessels to become narrowed or blocked, which restricts the flow of blood into the heart muscle and can cause chest pain (angina) and/or heart attack.
CABG surgery involves taking an artery or vein from elsewhere in the body and attaching (grafting) it to the diseased artery above and below the point of narrowing. This allows the blood to flow around (bypass) the blockage and reach the heart muscle without restriction.
‘First-time’ means that patients included in these data hadn’t had major heart surgery before. ‘Isolated’ means that CABG was the only procedure carried out during the surgery (sometimes surgeons do more than one procedure during an operation).
All mortality rates have been risk adjusted to take into account the varying risk factors present in the patients being operated on. This means that the data show what the mortality rate would have been if each hospital operated on patients with the average case mix.
Activity and risk adjusted mortality for isolated first-time aortic valve replacement
These hospital level data show the number of isolated first-time Aortic Valve Replacement (AVR) operations carried out, and the percentage of patients having this type of surgery who died after the procedure.
The aortic valve, on the left side of the heart, is one of four valves that open and close to regulate the flow of blood through different parts of the heart. They also ensure that it only travels in one direction. If heart disease results in this valve becoming narrowed or leaky then the valve may need to be replaced through AVR surgery.
‘First-time’ means that patients included in these data hadn’t had major heart surgery before. ‘Isolated’ means that AVR was the only procedure carried out during the surgery (sometimes surgeons do more than one procedure during an operation).
All mortality rates have been risk adjusted to take into account the varying risk factors present in the patients being operated on. This means that the data show what the mortality rate would have been if each hospital operated on patients with the average case mix.
Risk Factor data completeness
These data show the completeness of fields that are needed to accurately work out the risk adjusted mortality rates given in the ‘Activity & risk adjusted mortality’ files.
When a hospital is completing a record about a heart surgery it is possible for them to leave some fields within that record blank. Low levels of data completeness may affect the accuracy of the risk adjusted mortality rate for that hospital.
High data completeness means we are able to get create more reliable and accurate picture of the care given by hospitals.
More information about the individual risk factors can be found at http://bluebook.sct.org (due for launch mid-March 2013).
Data on the casemix and mortality rates of hospitals and individual surgeons in the UK can be found here:
Page last modified on 06 mar 13 11:37
