About

The audit was launched in 2002 and collects data submitted by hospitals in the UK. Based on the British Cardiovascular Interventional Society (BCIS) dataset, the audit provides information on the:

• structure of provision of PCI care across the United Kingdom
• appropriateness of the delivery of that care
• process by which the care is delivered (e.g. any delays to emergency PCI treatment for heart attacks)
• outcomes for patients receiving this treatment. This is risk adjusted to try and take into account factors such as age, severity of illness to ensure the information about the quality of care is reliable.

Analysis of the audit data is reported to individual consultant operators, participating hospitals and the public. This drives the development of services by encouraging shared learning and the improvement of identified poor performance. The audit is also designed to enhance understanding of clinical trends and develop risk adjustment models for outcome measures, such as mortality.

The audit is managed by NICOR and clinically led by Dr Peter Ludman, a consultant cardiologist at the Univeristy Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. Specialist clinical knowledge is provided by the British Cardiovascular Interventional Society (BCIS). 

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is one of the two coronary revascularisation techniques currently used in the treatment of ischaematic heart disease, the other being coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).The PCI procedure is used to treat patients whose coronary arteries - which supply the heart with blood - are narrowed or blocked. The procedure works by mechanically improving blood flow to the heart. A small balloon is inserted which, when inflated widens the artery. In most cases a 'stent', a metal mesh scaffold, is implanted to keep the artery wall open.

PCI procedures

Links:

• The National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP)
• Care Quality Commission (CQC)
• The British Cardiovascular Interventional Society (BCIS)
• Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP)