Assessing performance of HF care, Kent Surrey and Sussex Academic Health Science Network
A local collaboration between healthcare, academia and life sciences has focused on addressing variation in care and improving outcomes for people living with heart failure (HF) in the Kent, Surrey and Sussex region of the UK. The resulting project, initially called Quality and Patient Safety Collaborative Heart Failure Project, uses a data-driven, quality-improvement approach, drawing on national quality standards on HF and patient experience.
The project assesses hospital performance based on data collected by participating hospitals. It then provides the hospitals with an assessment dashboard showing where improvements are needed. The project considers two different pathways of care: hospital (acute) and community. Hospital discharge is one of the measures of the hospital pathway assessment, which considers, for example, medication on discharge.
The project aims to provide a platform for discussion and support the development of key recommendations to providers and commissioners.