The Dr Foster Unit has developed an alerting system which is used to monitor mortality in NHS Trusts.
Since 2007, the Dr Foster Unit has been notifying NHS trusts of possible high mortality outcomes for a range of diagnosis and procedures. We write to trusts with clear signals and share our findings with the Care Quality Commission. Partly as a result of our alerts, the CQC issued a damning report on the delivery of emergency care at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust.
The Dr Foster Unit supports projects in the following key areas:
Development of Indicators
- Return to theatre
- Hospital standardised mortality ratios (HSMRs)
Casemix modelling
- Mortality models for acute coronary syndromes (ACS)
- Risk modelling using machine learning for comorbidity measures
Performance Monitoring
- Continuous surveillance with statistical process control charts
- Hospital mortality alerting system (see above)
Patient Safety
- Patient Safety Indicators
- Systematic reviews of PSIs for primary and secondary care
- Infection Surveillance
- Day of the week and surgery outcomes
- Cancer and emergency admissions
- Hospital VTE prophylaxis policies and orthopaedics outcomes
Collaborative projects with clinical colleagues
- Global comparators
- Colorectal surgery
- Urology metrics
- Surgical risk following AMI/stroke
- Anesthetist metrics
- Determinants of respiratory illness in children
