Heartbeat: SWB part of national review on care of heart attack patients

July 13, 2021

A national report on the standards of care for patients who are admitted to hospital following a cardiac arrest has included data from SWB.

Dr Jon Hulme, Consultant in Anaesthesia & Intensive Care Medicine was one of the national reviewers to the In Hospital Care of Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrests: Time Matters report produced by the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD), published earlier this year.

We interviewed Jon and this is what he told us.

Q – What is the Time Matters report and what’s its purpose?

Time Matters is a report from NCEPOD published in early February. It assesses the quality of care provided to patients aged 16 years and over who were admitted to hospital following an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. By taking a detailed review of care, key recommendations can be given that are related to current practice. It is a one off report but NCEPOD is continuously undertaking reviews across a range of different topics. As the topics and reports are large and time-consuming there are typically one to three reports published every year.

Q – What is your involvement with NCEPOD

NCEPOD is an organisation in which practising clinicians review the management of patients undergoing medical and surgical care by undertaking confidential surveys and reviewing care provision and resources.

The reports are varied but essential reading for clinicians, policy makers and public representatives. NCEPOD is extremely well respected; it is a charity and not allied to government and so can be said to undertake reviews that are independent and insightful.

Q – How did you become a contributor to the Time Matters report?

One of my areas of expertise is resuscitation medicine and cardiac arrest. I am involved in this within my role as an ambulance service/helicopter doctor as well as within the intensive care unit. I am the SWB lead clinician for resuscitation and run the life support training group at the University of Birmingham, too.

When I saw that NCEPOD was asking for national case reviewers, I applied and was successful in being appointed as part of a group of approximately 30 reviewers who assessed the data from across the country. I am pleased to have been able to represent our Trust as part of such a large scale report.

Q – What data was used for your contribution of the report?

Data for the whole chain of survival and recovery was assessed. This includes initial treatment of the patient out of hospital by the ambulance service, where that patient was then taken to and management within the emergency department, acute cardiac care and intensive care unit.

There was also focus on how to prognosticate (the assessment of how good a recovery somebody might make) and then provision of rehabilitation and support services following this. Copies of ambulance service patient report forms and patient notes (anonymised) were provided to us.

Q – How is the report used by colleagues across the NHS?

NCEPOD provides reports that are trusted widely across the NHS. They provide as good a representation of how that type of care is being given as one is likely to achieve. The reports are able to highlight what is generally done well and what areas require more attention. Trusts, and in this case ambulance and hospital and community, can then use the report to compare against how they are working and determine how they can implement the key recommendations.

Q – What benefit is the report to patients?

The benefit to patients is that they can be reassured that an independent organisation is interested and skilled in assessing aspects of care to make recommendations for improvement. The reviews are undertaken by practising clinicians and the reports are well written, easy to understand and well supported by decision-makers in healthcare.