Dr Foster Intelligence | Case studies

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Success stories

The level of reassurance we have with this knowledge is important, as are the green alerts that tell us we've got some of the best cardiology outcomes in the country

Dr David Churchill Assistant Medical Director for Clinical Governance and Risk Management

Demonstrating high standards

The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust was asked by its Strategic Health Authority to investigate a seeming increase in its mortality amongst patients undergoing hip fracture repairs in April 2005. This apparent rise had only just been picked up by the SHA which was looking at 12-month old data.

[more info] Mortality rates for fracture of neck of femur rose sharply in April 2005. The trust was immediately able to explain this as an anomaly because they had operated on a string of elderly patients with co-morbities.

"Our information from Dr Foster Intelligence is only a month old. We were able to tell the health authority we know about it, had investigated and showed them it was a blip because we operated on a string of 85-year-old plus patients with co-morbidities," observed Dr David Churchill, assistant medical director for clinical governance and risk management.

Real time monitoring allows trusts to monitor the quality of inpatient care on 'a near to real time' basis. By providing trusts with information on mortality, length of stay, day case rates and emergency readmissions, clinicians and managers are able to understand and explain their trust's outcomes to management teams and other organisations.

"The level of reassurance we have with this knowledge is important, as are the green alerts that tell us we've got some of the best cardiology outcomes in the country," said Churchill.

Tool

Real Time Monitoring