Fewer hip patients die after surgery in Brighton
Death rates among hip surgery patients in Brighton are among the lowest in the country, according to an independent report.
Nationally hip fractures are the most common cause of injury-related death. This is largely because of the high proportion of hip fracture patients who are elderly and frail with pre-existing medical problems.
Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, said: “Mortality rates for hip fracture patients at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals (BSUH) are among the best in the country.
“Information published in the National Hip Fracture Database Report has shown BSUH has a mortality rate of 5.6 per cent, which is significantly lower than the national average of 8.2 per cent.
“Patients who come to BSUH with a fractured hip undergo surgery at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and have their rehabilitation after the operation at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.”
Dr Henry Alexander, consultant in elderly medicine, said: “This outstanding achievement has only been made possible by the dedication not only of my medical and nursing colleagues but of all the staff involved in hip fracture care, from the X-ray porter to the ward cleaner, from the ward pharmacist to the discharge co-ordinator.
“We are absolutely delighted by this result. It is evidence that our multidisciplinary approach to providing good quality care really does save lives.”
Death rates for hip fracture patients have consistently fallen in Brighton over the past few years since the introduction of a number of improvements.
The trust said that these have included
- the introduction of daily patient assessments in the surgical ward by an orthogeriatric consultant
- improvements in the way the patients are given anaesthesia
- more effective planning for when the patient goes home
- better team working between different specialists
Dr Stuart White, consultant anaesthetist, said: “This is a result of a five-year project that has seen a year-on-year decline in mortality and illness after hip fracture.
“Patients follow a specific, innovative pathway of care and are looked after by dedicated medical, nursing and administrative staff, committed to improving the quality of care for these most vulnerable of hospital inpatients.”
The National Hip Fracture Database Report is produced by the British Orthopaedic Association, the British Geriatrics Society and the Royal College of Physicians.
It looked at more than 60,000 patients from 180 hospitals across the country.
The report also suggested that the trust was relatively fast as well as safe.
It found that 94.6 per cent of patients had their operation within 48 hours, compared with a national average of 87.3 per cent.
However, 8.6 per cent of patients developed pressure ulcers, compared with a national average of 3.5 per cent.
The Royal Sussex treated 570 hip fractures in the year to the end of March. It was the busiest hospital for broken hips in the south east outside London, treating more than one in ten cases in the region.
And it was busy in national terms too. Out of 186 hospitals, it treated almost one in a hundred hip fractures.
