National cardiac register shows good results

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman says the first report from the national cardiac register shows good results, comparable with international standards.

“The national cardiac registry was developed to help further improve standards and maintain best practice across the country,” says Dr Coleman.

“The first year of data for 2015 shows better than internationally accepted results for the two most common cardiac procedures performed in New Zealand’s five cardiac units.

“Over time the registry data will provide a solid foundation for further analysis to underpin quality improvements in the delivery of cardiac surgery.”

The cardiac network, established with funding support from the Ministry of Health four years ago, developed the national cardiac registry.

The data for 2015 highlights:

• A total of 2,764 cardiac surgical procedures were performed across the five publicly-funded cardiac surgery centres in 2015.
• 70 per cent of these procedures were for patients aged 60 or over. Three quarters of patients were male and 70 per cent were of European ethnicity.
• One in nine patients were still smoking at the time of surgery, 25 per cent had diabetes, over 50 per cent had high blood pressure, and over 50 per cent were obese.
• The risk adjusted outcomes for coronary artery bypass grafts and valve replacement procedures compare better than internationally accepted standards. The survival rate for both procedures was 98.9 per cent.
• Other measures of quality of care were better than international standards, including ventilator time, intensive care unit stay and hospital stay.

The report can be found at: www.e-dendrite.com/publishing/reports/Cardiothoracic-Surgery/111