Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) has published its latest report into NHS adult cardiothoracic surgery in England. The GIRFT programme aims to help improve the NHS by identifying variations in practice and procurement, sharing and supporting the implementation of proven best practice with health professionals and hospital managers across the country, thereby improving patient care and saving costs. It does so with funding and support from the Department of Health and is jointly overseen by NHS Improvement and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust. In keeping with previous reports, Cardiothoracic Surgery GIRFT Programme National Specialty Report, makes 20 recommendations which, if implemented could save the NHS up to £52 million a year. The report contains a statement of support from The Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery (SCTS) which also produced a joint response with the Royal College of Surgeons urging the NHS to act upon the recommendations. The term cardiothoracic surgery relates to surgical treatment of disease in the heart, lungs and major blood vessels in the chest. 7 million people in England have cardiovascular disease which accounts for 27% of all deaths. 28,250 cardiac surgery operations and 69,000 thoracic surgery operations are performed each year. Only 31 units in England perform this major, technically demanding surgery in which success depends on highly skilled, multidisciplinary teamwork. Although low-volume compared to many other areas of surgery, cardiothoracic surgery is high cost and often high risk with a measurable mortality rate. Patients needing these sorts of operations have life-threatening diseases and are amongst the most ill that the NHS faces. Since survival rates and clinical outcomes in adult cardiac surgery have been published, they have improved such that the UK’s survival rate for cardiothoracic surgery is currently ranked as one of the best in the world. The GIRFT cardiothoracic surgery report recommends changes which will improve experience and outcomes for patients which go beyond mortality or survival rates. Delays (which increase risk), cancellations and unnecessarily long stays in hospital will be reduced by a series of measures including: Routine day-of-surgery admission Ring-fencing of ward and ITU beds for elective cardiothoracic surgery Pooling of non-elective cases so that patients are operated on in the next available theatre session with the next available appropriate surgeon Ensuring that every patient is seen by a consultant both pre and post-operatively, seven days a week (to avoid delays in waiting for discharge if no consultant can review at the weekend) Patients’ risk and outcomes (including risk of stroke and deep sternal wound infection) will be improved by measures including: Ensuring that conditions needing highly specialised treatment, such as aortovascular surgery and mitral valve surgery, are only operated on by surgeons with specialist skills in that condition. Specialist surgeons will operate on higher numbers of cases, as variations in practice, outcomes and mortality strongly suggest that higher volume is associated with better outcome. Minimum activity requirements for surgeons. Major trauma centres to have rotas to cover both thoracic and cardiac trauma surgery rather than relying on cardiac surgeons to provide emergency thoracic surgery cover. (There are only 27 cardiothoracic surgeons in England, with 182 cardiac-dedicated surgeons and 92 purely dedicated to thoracic surgery). Centralised and reduced numbers of lung cancer multidisciplinary teams with a thoracic surgeon present on every team. During their visits the GIRFT team found that because clinicians and providers knew very little about the litigation claims that were being made against them, very few lessons had been learned from claims. The Department of Health has stated its goal to turn the NHS into a learning organisation but unless clinical staff are given information about litigation claims and proper analysis of claims is carried out at local and national levels, opportunities are being missed to improve patient care. GIRFT recommended implementation of their five point plan to reduce litigation costs - including detailed analysis and review of all claims as serious untoward incidents (SUI) - to ensure that lessons are learned to save costs and improve patient care. If you or a family member have suffered serious injury as a result of medical negligence during cardiothoracic surgery call our specialist medical negligence solicitors on 0118 952 7219 or email mednegclaims@boyesturner.com.
Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) has published its latest report into NHS adult cardiothoracic surgery in England. The GIRFT programme aims to help improve the NHS by identifying variations in practice and procurement, sharing and supporting the implementation of proven best practice with health professionals and hospital managers across the country, thereby improving patient care and saving costs. It does so with funding and support from the Department of Health and is jointly overseen by NHS Improvement and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust. In keeping with previous reports, Cardiothoracic Surgery GIRFT Programme National Specialty Report, makes 20 recommendations which, if implemented could save the NHS up to £52 million a year. The report contains a statement of support from The Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery (SCTS) which also produced a joint response with the Royal College of Surgeons urging the NHS to act upon the recommendations. The term cardiothoracic surgery relates to surgical treatment of disease in the heart, lungs and major blood vessels in the chest. 7 million people in England have cardiovascular disease which accounts for 27% of all deaths. 28,250 cardiac surgery operations and 69,000 thoracic surgery operations are performed each year. Only 31 units in England perform this major, technically demanding surgery in which success depends on highly skilled, multidisciplinary teamwork. Although low-volume compared to many other areas of surgery, cardiothoracic surgery is high cost and often high risk with a measurable mortality rate. Patients needing these sorts of operations have life-threatening diseases and are amongst the most ill that the NHS faces. Since survival rates and clinical outcomes in adult cardiac surgery have been published, they have improved such that the UK’s survival rate for cardiothoracic surgery is currently ranked as one of the best in the world. The GIRFT cardiothoracic surgery report recommends changes which will improve experience and outcomes for patients which go beyond mortality or survival rates. Delays (which increase risk), cancellations and unnecessarily long stays in hospital will be reduced by a series of measures including: Routine day-of-surgery admission Ring-fencing of ward and ITU beds for elective cardiothoracic surgery Pooling of non-elective cases so that patients are operated on in the next available theatre session with the next available appropriate surgeon Ensuring that every patient is seen by a consultant both pre and post-operatively, seven days a week (to avoid delays in waiting for discharge if no consultant can review at the weekend) Patients’ risk and outcomes (including risk of stroke and deep sternal wound infection) will be improved by measures including: Ensuring that conditions needing highly specialised treatment, such as aortovascular surgery and mitral valve surgery, are only operated on by surgeons with specialist skills in that condition. Specialist surgeons will operate on higher numbers of cases, as variations in practice, outcomes and mortality strongly suggest that higher volume is associated with better outcome. Minimum activity requirements for surgeons. Major trauma centres to have rotas to cover both thoracic and cardiac trauma surgery rather than relying on cardiac surgeons to provide emergency thoracic surgery cover. (There are only 27 cardiothoracic surgeons in England, with 182 cardiac-dedicated surgeons and 92 purely dedicated to thoracic surgery). Centralised and reduced numbers of lung cancer multidisciplinary teams with a thoracic surgeon present on every team. During their visits the GIRFT team found that because clinicians and providers knew very little about the litigation claims that were being made against them, very few lessons had been learned from claims. The Department of Health has stated its goal to turn the NHS into a learning organisation but unless clinical staff are given information about litigation claims and proper analysis of claims is carried out at local and national levels, opportunities are being missed to improve patient care. GIRFT recommended implementation of their five point plan to reduce litigation costs - including detailed analysis and review of all claims as serious untoward incidents (SUI) - to ensure that lessons are learned to save costs and improve patient care. If you or a family member have suffered serious injury as a result of medical negligence during cardiothoracic surgery call our specialist medical negligence solicitors on 0118 952 7219 or email mednegclaims@boyesturner.com.
