Cardiac Rhythm Management Audit reports

30 November 2011

The Cardiac Rhythm Management Audit has published its 2010 report, detailing device implantation performance for each of the Cardiac and Stroke Networks in England and Wales.

Run by Heart Rhythm UK and commissioned by HQIP as part of the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP), the data reported is designed to allow valid direct comparison between Networks in England and Wales, down to Primary Care Trust (PCT) level, over successive years.

Read the full report here >>

The function of the audit it to describe the total volume and equity of provision of the three major cardiac implantable device therapies:

• Pacemakers (PM) for bradycardia (abnormally slow heart rates)
• Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) for life threatening ventricular arrhythmias which may otherwise cause sudden cardiac death and
• Cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) for patients with advanced heart failure.

Current ‘target' implantation rates (expressed as new implants per million population) compared to in the UK are: PM 700pmp, ICD 100pmp and CRT 130pmp.

In 2010 device implant rates were:

• PM 528pmp, a small decline of 0.6% from 2009;
• ICD 72pmp, a 14.8% increase over 2009;
• CRT 114pmp, a 14.9% increase over 2009.

According to the project team for the audit, these implant rates place the UK in the lowest positions of the league tables of comparable European countries, except for CRT where the implant rate is average, despite evidence that the prevalence of the diseases for which the devices are indicated is not significantly different in comparable countries.

The annual report for 2011 will see a further increase in the range and depth of clinical outcome data related to cardiac rhythm management, including procedural complication rates.  This will provide clinical professions, management, commissioners and policy makers with a key resource for planning device services both locally and nationally, and for understanding local performance over time.