The Global Comparators project: international comparison of 30-day in-hospital mortality by day of the week

"We show that mortality outcomes for our sample vary within each country and per day of the week in agreement with previous studies of the ‘weekend effect’."

The Global Comparators project: international comparison of 30-day in-hospital mortality by day of the week
M Ruiz, A Bottle, PP Aylin
BMJ Quality and Safety 2015;24:492-504 doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2014-003467

Read more here.

Improving the compliance of extended venous thromboembolism prophylaxis following cancer resections

"Visual reminder is a simple yet effective tool to improve awareness among junior doctors on the importance of extended venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in cancer patients."

A persuasive intervention: improving the compliance of extended venous thromboembolism prophylaxis following cancer resections in a tertiary colorectal and hepatobiliary unit
YP Yong, A Karangizi, A Banerjea
BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2014;3: doi:10.1136/bmjquality.u202594.w2216

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Nurse-reported hospital characteristics and estimated 30-day survival probabilities

"Perceived staffing adequacy, but not nurse-patient ratio was associated with overall survival. This result suggests that the way resources are organised is a critical factor to achieve the goal of quality and safety. Furthermore, nurses’ assessments of quality of nursing were correlated with overall survival and survival"
An observational study: associations between nurse-reported hospital characteristics and estimated 30-day survival probabilities
C Tvedt, IS Sjetne, J Helgeland, G Bukholm
BMJ Quality and Safety, 2014; 23: 757–764.

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Report on inquiry into respiratory deaths

"Strategic and effective investment has the power to bring not only significant savings to the NHS, but improvements in patients’ quality of life and a significant reduction in deaths from respiratory disease."

Report on inquiry into respiratory deaths
APPG on Respiratory Health
June 2014

Read more here.

Variations and inter-relationship in outcome from emergency admissions in England

"Hospital-level risk-standardised outcomes for emergency admissions across a range of specialties vary considerably and cross traditional speciality boundaries. This suggests that global institutional infra-structure and processes of care influence outcomes."

Variations and inter-relationship in outcome from emergency admissions in England: a retrospective analysis of Hospital Episode Statistics from 2005-2010
PJ Holt, S Sinha, BA Ozdemir, A Karthikesalingam, JD Poloniecki, MM Thompson
BMC Health Services Research, 2014, 14: 270

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Kidney cancer: survival report

"Kidney cancer survival has improved in males and females. All grades of tumours have shown improvement. Renal cell carcinoma and ‘other’ kidney cancers survival has improved but there has been no change for transitional cell carcinoma."

Kidney cancer: survival report
Urological Cancers SSCRG
National Cancer Intelligence Network

April 2014

Read more here.

Report of the Children and Young People’s Health Outcomes Forum

"If we compare ourselves with the country with the lowest mortality for children and young people, Sweden (after controlling for population size among other variables), we find that in the UK every day five children under the age of 14 die who would not die in Sweden."

Report of the Children and Young People’s Health Outcomes Forum 2013/14
I Lewis, C Lenehan
April 2014

Read more here.

The four health systems of the United Kingdom: how do they compare?

"Overall, this research suggests that despite hotly contested policy differences between the UK health systems since devolution on structure, competition, patient choice and the use of non-NHS providers, there is no evidence linking these policy differences to a matching divergence of performance, at least on the measures available across the four UK countries."

The four health systems of the United Kingdom: how do they compare?
G Bevan, M Karanikolos, J Exley, E Nolte, S Connolly, N Mays
The Health Foundation, Nufffield Trust
April 2014

Find out more and access all of the resources here.

Do variations in hospital mortality patterns after weekend admission reflect reduced quality of care?

"Not every diagnostic group demonstrates a weekend effect, and those that do are associated with quite different risk profiles, suggestive of different causal pathways. Recognising how these different patterns shape the impact of weekend admissions should lead to more diagnosis- and service-specific analyses and solutions."

Do variations in hospital mortality patterns after weekend admission reflect reduced quality of care or different patient cohorts? A population-based study
O Perez Concha, B Gallego, K Hillman, GP Delaney, E Coiera
BMJ Quality and Safety, 2014; 23(3): 215-222

Read more here.

Focus on hip fracture

"Providing good-quality care for hip fractures will become of increasing importance due to an ageing population and the corresponding rise in hip fracture incidence. This analysis explores the quality and outcomes of treatment by looking at ten years of hospital inpatient activity data in England."

Focus on hip fracture: trends in emergency admissions for fractured neck of femur, 2001 to 2011
P Smith, C Ariti, M Bardsley
QualityWatch
The Health Foundation, Nuffield Trust
October 2013

Read more here.

Cardiovascular disease outcomes strategy

"This strategy is being launched to coincide with The Lancet publication showing the UK’s relatively poor mortality rates and the Department of Health’s call to action to the health and care system to improve mortality rates across the board."

Cardiovascular disease outcomes strategy: improving outcomes for people with or at risk of cardiovascular disease
Department of Health
March 2013

Read more here.

Seven day consultant present care

The importance of consultants in providing high quality care for patients in hospital has been highlighted recently by the publication of The Benefits of Consultant Delivered Care. This document recognises the significance of delivering the benefits identified in that report, seven days a week.

Seven day consultant present care
Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
December 2012

Access the full report here.

Dr Foster Hospital Guide 2012

"Trusts that provide cost effective care by reducing the length of stay in hospital, avoiding emergency readmissions and using resources effectively can also achieve good outcomes."

Fit for the future: Dr Foster Hospital Guide 2012
Dr Foster Intelligence
December 2012

Read more here.