NICOR: National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research

National Adult Cardiac Surgery Audit Report has been published today

Cardiac surgeons have published results of cardiac surgery since 2001 and this annual report, the first published by the National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (NICOR) from the National Adult Cardiac Surgery audit, includes detailed results of cardiac surgery operations in England and Wales between 2008 and 2011. All NHS cardiac surgery centres and three private hospitals in England and Wales submit data to the adult cardiac surgery audit and it is one of the biggest and longest established registries of its kind in the world. Findings from the audit continue to show that the quality of care is improving even though more elderly and high risk patients are being treated.

Mortality rates by named hospital are given for all cardiac surgery, isolated first time coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), and isolated first time aortic valve surgery. All hospitals are performing significantly better than the European standard for isolated first time coronary artery surgery set by the European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgery. The report shows that the predicted risk of cardiac surgery has increased year on year from 2001, and this increase is due to more elderly people, women and patients generally undergoing more complex operations than isolated coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). Despite the increasing patient risk profiles, mortality for all cardiac surgery continues to fall. The mortality for all cardiac surgery has fallen from 4.0% in 2001/2002 to 3.1% in 2010/2011.

The report is available here:

• Adult Cardiac Surgery Annual Report 2011-2012