The Society has taken a lead in data collection and analysis for over 25 years. Cardiothoracic surgery is the only medical or surgical specialty in the UK to have comprehensive data on activity and outcomes.
With the Royal College of Surgeons the Society helps monitor standards and investigate problems that are highlighted by this. It has taken the lead in developing a system of Quality Assurance for the Hospitals involved in Cardiothoracic Surgery.
Why all the interest in heart surgery outcomes?
After Bristol, the quality and safety of heart surgery has attracted much attention. The media and the public, as well as the profession, have started to look quite carefully at the outcome of heart operations. Heart surgery is exceptional amongst medical specialties in three ways:
- Most heart surgery consists of a handful of operations, and over half of these are just one type of operation: coronary artery bypass grafting or CABG.
- Because these are big operations, which carry some risk of death, it is relatively easy to produce figures for the death rate of certain procedures.
- Death is a very solid, objective outcome (no-one can argue about it).