Heart failure

The aim of this project is to improve the quality of care for patients with heart failure through continual audit and to support the implementation of the national service framework for coronary heart disease. In order to plan heart failure care in the future, the Department of Health needs an accurate description of patients being hospitalised for heart failure. Data is also needed about how long this group of patients are admitted for, what investigations are undertaken during their hospitalisation, what medication they are taking when they leave hospital, and how many people die of the condition.

The UK has a strong record of heart failure research, but lacks good national audit data on heart failure outcomes and treatments. This audit will provide the basic information needed and complement the research base. It will also supplement and extend an earlier, ongoing audit sponsored by the Care Quality Commission (formerly the Healthcare Commission). Ultimately this audit should allow clinicians to improve strategies for reducing the number of patients who are hospitalised for heart failure.

The audit will aim to report on these standards/evidence-based care:

• numbers of heart failure patients having echocardiography.
• percentages of patients on essential drugs such as ACEI and beta blockers.
• the prevalence of important co-morbidities such as anaemia and renal dysfunction.
• the use of expensive device therapy during heart failure treatment

Aims of the audit

The IC and the BSH have chosen to initially focus on auditing care within secondary care.

The audit aims to assess both clinical care and patient related outcomes by answering the following questions:

• Do all patients admitted to hospital with confirmed heart failure have quality of care recorded?
• Is there variation in the quality of diagnosis, care and treatment of patients with heart failure across the country?
• Is the quality of care having a positive effect on patient outcomes?

Organisation of the audit

The British Society of Heart Failure provide the professional leadership for the audit. The HSCIC's National Clinical Audit Support Programme (NCASP) has been contracted to manage this audit and provide the IT infrastructure.

The National Clinical Audit Support Programme at the NHS Information Centre

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