How good is your heart surgeon ?

This is really aimed at people in the UK but it is encouraging for all of us that there is a trend towards greater transparency from the medical profession .

A new website was launched here in the UK yesterday by the Society for Cardio thoracic surgery. which enables heart patients to check online how many times their surgeon has performed their operation and how well it went. Leading UK cardiac centres are listed and cardio thoracic surgeons are listed by name. Death rates, success rates, risk factors etc for each op are listed and results are compared by centre and by doctor.

At the moment it is just looking at the more risky ops such as coronary bypass, valve surgery and aortic surgery but this is certainly a step in the right direction !

To find the site go on to the Blue Book online website and scroll down till you get to Cardiac Surgery Audit Data.

There have been many posts on here advising ablation and implant patients to do their researches before choosing a Dr .... I am curious; in other countries how easy is it to get comparative data ?

Ian

4 Comments

Thanks Ian

by Janey L - 2013-03-19 02:03:04

Hi Ian
Thanks for posting this Ian. I read about this new website in the newspaper yesterday but didn't realise it was "live" already. I will have a look at it later. I think it will be VERY useful to be able to look this information up
here in the UK. We haven't really had much access like this before. St George's Hospital do post mortality rates for a few heart surgeons at the hospital, but only for a few heart procedures like heart by-pass operations.

Best wishes
Janey

Ask a nurse

by Pandysbuddy - 2013-03-20 01:03:06

I was in a cardio rehab program years ago after a minor heart attack and asked the staff there who did they think was the best cardiologist at the hospital. They told me and I changed doctors.Glad I did. Nurses are the best source.

Who would the Dr have operate on himself ?

by IAN MC - 2013-03-20 05:03:20

It is interesting that when my plumber-cardiologist told me I needed an ablation he recommended that I should go to Doctor A to have it done.

I asked him " If you , or your wife, needed an ablation who would you use, because I want the best guy in the UK to do mine ? " He then said, after much thought, " I would use Doctor B "

.... so I went to Dr B and was highly satisfied with the outcome.

Also, I think anaesthetists are a particularly good source of info as they are watching different surgeons operate every day

Patch, I really do like the sound of your guy ... if his performance always meets your expectations you have nothing to worry about...... and Sparrow, I agree, popularity contests are of little value when choosing a surgeon.

Also beauty contests are of less value ; you could end up not seeing Patch's excellent guy just because he has a bulbous red nose !

Cheers

Ian

Sometimes size IS everything......

by Tattoo Man - 2013-03-20 08:03:04


....................when I had open heart surgery six years ago, I was impressed to find out that my surgeon..Richard Firmin at Glenfield UK was one of the countrys best paediatric cardiac surgeons.

I reckoned that if he could handle baby hearts then my baboon heart would be no problem at all.

Tattoo Man

You know you're wired when...

Muggers want your ICD, not your wallet.

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