THE NATIONAL HEART FAILURE AUDIT

The heart failure audit is now just over three years old! It provides information on heart failure treatment across the UK, including patient profiles, length of hospital admission, interventions, medication and outcomes.  The audit is now providing reliable information to help clinicians, boards and commissioners to continually measure and improve care by comparing services to specific standards and national trends.  Information will also help patients make informed decisions about their care and treatment. 

As of July 2009, 113 Trusts (66%) had registered with the audit.  Over half (60%) are submitting data on a regular basis.  Whilst there is a wide variation in cases submitted, the general trend is that the number of records submitted each month is increasing.  There are now over 16,500 case records in the audit.  Participation is increasing as two heart failure questions relating to the audit have now been included as part of the DOH performance Indicators and within the Annual Health Check. 

A third annual report is available at: 

http://www.ic.nhs.uk/webfiles/Services/NCASP/audits%20and%20reports/NHS_National_Heart_Failure_Audit_09_INTERACTIVE.pdf

Information about the audit, including reports and a list of participating sites, can be accessed via The Information Centre website: