Excess mortality at Bristol is not explained by low volume of operations

Mortality in paediatric cardiac surgery in English hospitals is inversely related to the volume of surgery, but only a small part of the excess mortality found by the Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry was due to the centre's lower volume of cases. Using routine administrative data, Speigelhalter (p 261) showed that the mortality of centres with a higher volume was approximately two thirds of that found in smaller centres when data from Bristol were not included in the analysis. He cautions that this finding does not necessarily mean that concentrating resources in fewer centres would reduce mortality.


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Relevant Article

Mortality and volume of cases in paediatric cardiac surgery: retrospective study based on routinely collected data
David J Spiegelhalter
BMJ 2002 324: 261. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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