Organs and Emotions.

[Guest guest]

"Our ideal is not the

spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest of life by the power of the spirit." - Aurobindo.

Messenger with Voice. PC-to-Phone calls for ridiculously low rates.

[Guest guest]

What would be your emotions if you were about to have

a heart operation and read the following??

 

Three trusts fail to reveal heart death figures

 

· Hospitals face penalty over surgeons data

· Website launched after Guardian investigation

 

John Carvel and Sarah Boseley

Wednesday April 26, 2006

The Guardian

 

Three leading NHS hospitals risk being downgraded for

failing to give information on the death rates of

their heart surgery patients, the Guardian has

learned. The trusts are the only ones in the UK not to

have provided key data for the Healthcare Commission,

which has been gathering information on mortality

rates linked to individual surgeons.

 

The information will be published today on a

groundbreaking website designed to enable heart

patients and their families the chance to make

informed choices about where to have surgery.

 

Last night one of Britain's top heart surgeons warned

that the commission might penalise the three trusts -

St Mary's in Paddington, west London, Glenfields in

Leicester, and Morriston in Swansea - by downgrading

them in their annual performance ratings. " I think it

is utterly unacceptable in a modern health service

that units no longer have the discipline or facility

to collect good outcome data, " said Sir Bruce Keogh,

president of the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons.

 

After a Guardian investigation last year, the

commission asked all hospitals performing heart

surgery to provide data on operations such as bypass

grafts and aortic valve replacements. The aim was to

help patients assess a surgeon's track record before

having an operation.

 

In a historic move the commission will publish data on

death rates at almost all the 33 hospitals performing

this complex work in England and Wales. It will

disclose risk-adjusted mortality rates for individual

surgeons at 17 cardiac units, and the aggregated

results for 13 units.

 

The commission hopes this will be the start of a new

era of transparency, opening up the performance of

other medical specialisms to public scrutiny.

Ministers are enthusiastic on the grounds that greater

openness will strengthen the case for patient choice.

 

In March last year, the Guardian revealed that St

Mary's had such poor data collection it was unable to

sort out how many deaths should have been attributed

to one of its surgeons. Efforts have been made to

improve the situation after an investigation by the

commission prompted by an official Guardian complaint.

But one year on patients can be no clearer over the

outcome of heart surgery at the hospital.

 

Yesterday it emerged that a locum consultant, named as

Ashok Cherian, who is doing heart operations at St

Mary's, is not on the specialist register. The

hospital said this was acceptable as long as the

hospital believed he had the " right qualifications and

skills " . St Mary's said it recognised that there had

been " shortcomings with its data collection and audit

processes in cardiothoracic surgery " . But it had

focused " energy on making improvements in this

specialty over the last year " . The trust also said it

collected data on individual surgeons' performance and

submitted it annually to the Society of Cardiothoracic

Surgeons but did not yet have the specialist software

to contribute to the central cardiac audit database,

the source for the new public website.

 

The Leicester unit is known as one of the best in the

country and has excellent data collection. Yesterday a

trust spokesperson said the failure to supply the data

was due to error - a breakdown in communication

between the commission and the trust. " We have talked

with the commission and agreed that they will publish

our data as soon as possible. "

 

Swansea said it had experienced problems with

collecting data. " This is the first time this

information has been requested in this format and it

has taken longer than anticipated to complete the

audit. This has also been complicated by vacancies

within the department. We are intending to ... submit

to Healthcare Commission in the near future, " said a

spokesman.

 

Transparency over surgery results was promised by Alan

Milburn when he was health secretary in 2002.

Following the Bristol babies heart scandal, he pledged

that the information would become freely available by

2004. Last year the Guardian used the Freedom of

Information Act to gain the results. Some hospitals

provided risk-adjusted data, but others could only

give the raw scores. After the Guardian published this

information in March last year, John Reid, Mr

Milburn's successor as health secretary, promised to

make full risk-adjusted data available by September.

But this deadline also came and went.

 

The commission's chairman, Sir Ian Kennedy, sent a

warning to trust chief executives and surgeons, citing

the Guardian as having exposed several shortcomings in

the data. A spokesman for the Healthcare Commission

said last night: " This as a significant landmark in

the provision of information about healthcare. "

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Having worked in Cardiac Units for many years - I don't remember one death. But I reckon it's all to do with faith.

 

Jane

 

-

james white

Friday, April 28, 2006 10:33 PM

Re: Organs and Emotions.

What would be your emotions if you were about to havea heart operation and read the following??Three trusts fail to reveal heart death figures· Hospitals face penalty over surgeons data· Website launched after Guardian investigationJohn Carvel and Sarah BoseleyWednesday April 26, 2006The GuardianThree leading NHS hospitals risk being downgraded forfailing to give information on the death rates oftheir heart surgery patients, the Guardian haslearned. The trusts are the only ones in the UK not tohave provided key data for the Healthcare Commission,which has been gathering information on mortalityrates linked to individual surgeons.The information will be published today on agroundbreaking website designed to enable heartpatients and their families the chance to makeinformed choices about where to have surgery.Last night one of Britain's top heart surgeons warnedthat the commission might penalise the three trusts -St Mary's in Paddington, west London, Glenfields inLeicester, and Morriston in Swansea - by downgradingthem in their annual performance ratings. "I think itis utterly unacceptable in a modern health servicethat units no longer have the discipline or facilityto collect good outcome data," said Sir Bruce Keogh,president of the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons.After a Guardian investigation last year, thecommission asked all hospitals performing heartsurgery to provide data on operations such as bypassgrafts and aortic valve replacements. The aim was tohelp patients assess a surgeon's track record beforehaving an operation.In a historic move the commission will publish data ondeath rates at almost all the 33 hospitals performingthis complex work in England and Wales. It willdisclose risk-adjusted mortality rates for individualsurgeons at 17 cardiac units, and the aggregatedresults for 13 units.The commission hopes this will be the start of a newera of transparency, opening up the performance ofother medical specialisms to public scrutiny.Ministers are enthusiastic on the grounds that greateropenness will strengthen the case for patient choice.In March last year, the Guardian revealed that StMary's had such poor data collection it was unable tosort out how many deaths should have been attributedto one of its surgeons. Efforts have been made toimprove the situation after an investigation by thecommission prompted by an official Guardian complaint.But one year on patients can be no clearer over theoutcome of heart surgery at the hospital.Yesterday it emerged that a locum consultant, named asAshok Cherian, who is doing heart operations at StMary's, is not on the specialist register. Thehospital said this was acceptable as long as thehospital believed he had the "right qualifications andskills". St Mary's said it recognised that there hadbeen "shortcomings with its data collection and auditprocesses in cardiothoracic surgery". But it hadfocused "energy on making improvements in thisspecialty over the last year". The trust also said itcollected data on individual surgeons' performance andsubmitted it annually to the Society of CardiothoracicSurgeons but did not yet have the specialist softwareto contribute to the central cardiac audit database,the source for the new public website.The Leicester unit is known as one of the best in thecountry and has excellent data collection. Yesterday atrust spokesperson said the failure to supply the datawas due to error - a breakdown in communicationbetween the commission and the trust. "We have talkedwith the commission and agreed that they will publishour data as soon as possible."Swansea said it had experienced problems withcollecting data. "This is the first time thisinformation has been requested in this format and ithas taken longer than anticipated to complete theaudit. This has also been complicated by vacancieswithin the department. We are intending to ... submitto Healthcare Commission in the near future," said aspokesman.Transparency over surgery results was promised by AlanMilburn when he was health secretary in 2002.Following the Bristol babies heart scandal, he pledgedthat the information would become freely available by2004. Last year the Guardian used the Freedom ofInformation Act to gain the results. Some hospitalsprovided risk-adjusted data, but others could onlygive the raw scores. After the Guardian published thisinformation in March last year, John Reid, MrMilburn's successor as health secretary, promised tomake full risk-adjusted data available by September.But this deadline also came and went.The commission's chairman, Sir Ian Kennedy, sent awarning to trust chief executives and surgeons, citingthe Guardian as having exposed several shortcomings inthe data. A spokesman for the Healthcare Commissionsaid last night: "This as a significant landmark inthe provision of information about healthcare."