Mortality meetings in geriatric medicine: strategies for improvement

"Mortality meetings are an essential part of junior doctor training and hospital clinical governance. There is a tendency for these meetings to be poorly organised, poorly focused and poorly attended, especially by disciplines other than doctors. In this improvement project we were able to make our mortality meetings more multidisciplinary and a better learning experience for staff."

Mortality meetings in geriatric medicine: strategies for improvement
J Dunbar, J George
BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2015;4: doi:10.1136/bmjquality.u202625.w3247

Read more here.

Action to reduce premature avoidable mortality

"Living Well for Longer provides a national road map of the actions we will take across the health spectrum. It also provides complementary ideas for local action with case studies that demonstrate local innovation and good practice, encouraging local areas to learn from the best, and sharing the learning from their own successes." 

Living well for longer: national support for local action to reduce premature avoidable mortality
Department of Health
April 2014

Read more here.

Increased risks of death and extra lengths of hospital and ICU stay from hospital-acquired bloodstream infections

"Bloodstream infections are associated with an increased risk of death and longer hospital stay. Avoiding infections could save lives and free up valuable bed days."

The increased risks of death and extra lengths of hospital and ICU stay from hospital-acquired bloodstream infections: a case–control study
AG Barnett, K Page, M Campbell, E Martin, R Rashleigh-Rolls, K Halton, DL Paterson, L Hall, N Jimmieson, K White, N Graves
BMJ Open, 2013, 3:e003587

Read more here.

BMA Position Paper: 7-day services

"We set out in this paper, what we understand to be the various drivers for the move to more 7-day services, what this means in practical terms, particularly in relation to doctors and their ability to provide high quality patient care, and where the BMA is positioned."

BMA Position Paper: 7-day services
British Medical Association
October 2013

Read more here.

Modelling factors in primary care quality improvement

"High-quality primary care, including aspects of access to and continuity of care, detection and management, appears to be associated with reducing coronary heart disease mortality."

Modelling factors in primary care quality improvement: a cross-sectional study of premature CHD mortality
K Honeyford, R Baker, MJG Bankart, D Jones
BMJ Open, 2013, 3:e003391

Read more here.

Variation in surgical-readmission rates and quality of hospital care

"Hospitals with high surgical volume and low surgical mortality have lower rates of surgical readmission than other hospitals."

Variation in surgical-readmission rates and quality of hospital care
TC Tsai, KE Joynt, J Orav, AA Gawande, AK Jha
New England Journal of Medicine, 2013, 369:1134-42

Read more here.

Time to act: severe sepsis: rapid diagnosis and treatment saves lives

"Better care could lead to savings in 8 Time to act - Severe sepsis: rapid diagnosis and treatment saves lives terms of reduced length of hospital stay and less intensive care and renal dialysis."

Time to act: severe sepsis: rapid diagnosis and treatment saves lives
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
September 2013

Read more here.

Recommendations for safe trainee changeover

"Doctors in training in the UK have historically started new six-monthly rotations in February and August, with the majority of junior doctors rotating to new training programmes during the first week of August. There is an increasing body of evidence to suggest that simultaneous trainee changeover is associated with higher mortality, reduced efficiency and lower satisfaction. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) and NHS Employers have worked with partner organisations to develop simple, practical recommendations that can help mitigate these problems. "

Recommendations for safe trainee changeover
Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, NHS Employers
June 2013

Read more here.

National report of the National Hip Fracture Database

"While the challenges of improving post-acute care are recognised as substantial, greatly improving its documentation will provide a basis for comparisons that will be of interest not only to patients and their carers, but to acute and post-acute clinical teams, and to agencies commissioning hip fracture care – agencies which are likely to value cost-effectiveness, especially when it is linked to higher quality care....This Supplement to the National Hip Fracture Database 2012 National Report extends the findings of that Report and should be read in conjunction with it."

The National Hip Fracture Database National Report 2012 - supplement
National Hip Fracture Database
March 2013

Read more here.

QUality, Efficiency, Safety, Transparency

"QUEST® — QUality, Efficiency, Safety and Transparency — is the largest multidimensional and multiyear collaborative designed to help hospitals and health systems reliably deliver the most efficient, effective and caring experience for every patient, every single time."

QUEST®: High-performing hospitals
Premier
March 2013

Read more here.

NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare for People with Liver Disease

"The NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare for People with Liver Disease uses data sets in the form of maps to reveal the extent of variations in services and outcomes."

NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare for People with Liver Disease
NHS RightCare
March 2013

Read more here.

Health care lessons from Australia

"This paper is the first in a series that examines the way health services are funded and delivered in other nations."

Health care lessons from Australia
N Esmail
Fraser Institute
February 2013

Read more here.

Deaths from cardiovascular diseases: implications for end of life care in England

"This report provides useful and descriptive overview of the current trends in mortality from cardiovascular diseases including circulatory diseases, congenital heart disease and vascular dementia."

Deaths from cardiovascular diseases: implications for end of life care in England
National End of Life Care Programme
February 2013

Read more here.

The Francis Report

"The final report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry was published on Wednesday 6 February 2013....There are 290 recommendations in the report."

The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry
Chaired by Robert Francis QC
The Stationery Office
February 2013

Access all the relevant documents here.

Preventable hospital mortality

"A quality improvement strategy based on good local evidence is effective in improving the quality of care sufficiently to reduce mortality."

Preventable hospital mortality: learning from retrospective case record review
OO Sorinola, C Weerasinghe, R Brown
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Short Reports, 2012, 3(11):77

Read more here.

Will pay for performance improve quality of care?

"Beyond the obvious differences between the U.K. National Health Service and U.S. health care settings, some striking differences between the British and American versions of pay for performance might help explain the contrasting results."

Editorial: Will pay for performance improve quality of care? The answer is in the detail
AM Epstein
New England Journal of Medicine, 2012, 367(19):1852-1853

Read more here.

Reduced mortality with hospital pay for performance in England

"The introduction of pay for performance in all NHS hospitals in one region of England was associated with a clinically significant reduction in mortality."

Reduced mortality with hospital pay for performance in England
M Sutton, S Nikolova, R Boaden, H Lester, R McDonald, M Roland
New England Journal of Medicine, 2012, 367(19):1821-1828

Read more here.

Factors influencing the implementation of fall prevention programmes

"The issues identified through this synthesis need to be fully considered and addressed if fall-prevention programmes are to be successfully implemented into clinical practice."

Factors influencing the implementation of fall prevention programmes: a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative studies
S Child, V Goodwin, R Garside, T Jones-Hughes, K Boddy, K Stein
Implementation Science, 2012, 7:91

Read more here.

Chronic kidney disease in England: the human and financial cost

"The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and associated complications and comorbidities on quality of life, mortality and NHS costs in England."

Chronic kidney disease in England: the human and financial cost
M Kerr
NHS Kidney Care

Read more here.

A comprehensive model to reduce harm and save lives

"From 2008 through 2011, a 31% reduction in harm events and an 18% reduction in inpatient mortality occurred systemwide."

The Henry Ford Health System No Harm Campaign: A comprehensive model to reduce harm and save lives
WA Conway, S Hawkins, J Jordan, MJ Voutt-Goos
The Joint Commission Journal of Quality and Patient Safety, 2012, 38(7)

Read more here.