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Surgery checklist minimises risk
MORE patients are surviving risky surgery at St Mary’s Hospita.
Doctors at the Paddington hospital say the rate of in-patient deaths has fallen by 40 per cent over the last 12 months. The rate of complications following surgery has fallen from 11 to 7 per cent.
The remarkable feat is being attributed to the introduction of a “safer surgery checklist” – part of a major new international study being piloted at the hospital in Praed Street.
The results of the World Health Organisation study have recently been published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The checklist ensures surgery is conducted in optimum conditions.
Professor David Taube, medical director at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs St Mary’s said: “It is critically important that every operation we carry out is as safe as it can be.
“We want our patients and their relatives to know throughout the process that every possible step is being taken to minimise any risk to them. As a trust that carries out 115,000 surgical procedures a year, we have learned a great deal from this pilot programme.
“The results speak for themselves and show that use of the checklist can make a significant difference.
“We are now implementing the safer surgery checklist across the trust and we hope other hospitals in the UK will do the same.” |
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