National Adult Cardiac Surgery Audit: 2022 Summary report

The National Adult Cardiac Surgery Audit (NACSA), which is part of the National Cardiac Audit Programme (NCAP), has published its latest summary report. Based on data collected from every adult patient undergoing heart surgery in England, Wales and Northern Ireland over the three years between 2018/19 to 2020/21, it focuses on a number of specific quality improvement (QI) metrics derived from national and/or international standards and guidelines. The report largely focuses on the changes within adult cardiac surgery that were seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. It found:

• Complications following coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery remain low, with stroke rates falling to 0.6% and reoperation for bleeding rates remaining low at 1.78%.
• The average waiting time for urgent CABG across the UK decreased slightly from 11 to 10 days (though only three hospitals met the seven-day target).
• A 21% increase in waiting times for CABG in England (to 125 days), 61% increase in Northern Ireland (to 197 days), and 94% increase in Wales (to 252 days). Only five NHS hospital met the 84-day target.

The report goes on to make a number of recommendations, including a call for hospitals with prolonged waiting times for elective CABG surgery to review their processes and referral pathways to identify the causes of any delays. If necessary, advice should be sought from centres with evidence of the best performance. Read the full report: You can read the report by clicking on the link below. Stay-up-to-date: For notifications of future reports from HQIP, sign up to our mailing list.