Our performance

This section focuses on our performance against key national healthcare targets during 2010/11.
The past year saw the Trust sustain excellent performance against national targets resulting in swifter, safer treatment for patients. 

We treated more patients than last year
• We saw 241,000 new outpatients (10 per cent more than last year)
• Our accident and emergency departments saw 300,000 patients (eight per cent more than last year)
• We admitted 82,500 patients for emergency care (six per cent more than last year)
• We undertook 65,000 day case procedures (17 per cent more than planned)

We saved more lives
• The Trust had 718* fewer deaths than would be expected for our mix of patients when compared with England as a whole. This compares with 439 fewer deaths than last year.  (*provisional - estimated from 11 months of data)
• By December 2010, the Trust’s mortality rate improved from a ranking of second to first within its AHSC peer group from the previous year

* Hospital Standardised Mortality Rates are recognised as the best indicator of the overall quality of care an organisation provides as they calculate an organisation’s deviation from its expected mortality rates based on the types of patient it treats.  .

We improved the quality of care to our patients
• 24,000 of our patients took part in clinical trials and benefited from the direct link between participation in research and high quality care (this figure doubled from 13,500 in 2009/-10)
• We reduced healthcare associated infections in patients contracting MRSA bacteraemia to 19, although this was above our ceiling of 13 cases for 2010/11 but this was a major improvement on the previous year as there were 37 cases in 2009/-10.  Clostridium difficile cases reduced to 176 compared to 256 in 2009/-10 (see point 4 on page 13below)
• 97.2 per cent of our stroke patients received the majority of their care on the specialist stroke unit (a dramatic increase from 66 per cent in 2009/-10)
• The St Mary’s Hospital pilot of the recurrent admission patient alert (where an email is automatically sent to the clinical nurse specialist most closely involved with the cancer patient’s care) improved the care received by our cancer patients attending accident and emergency by significantly reducing their length of stay by around 50 per cent and the system is now being rolled out across the Trust
• Just over two patients per 1,000 bed -days experienced a fall whilst in our care and this continues to be significantly lower than the national average of between five5 and six6 per 1,000 bed days

We improved patient experience
• 99.3 per cent of our in-patients stayed on a single- sex ward (an improvement on 96.3 per cent in 2009/-10)
• The 2010 national inpatient survey showed improved responses on all questions compared with 2009, although we do still need to improve in particular areas (see point 5 below)
• We delivered improvements on all of the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) local quality improvement goals with two- thirds achieving improvements greater than 70 per cent.  We achieved particular success in reducing emergency readmissions and improving post-surgical recovery for patients on colorectal, upper gastro-intestinal and gynaecological cancer pathways.
• We achieved excellent ratings in environmental cleanliness throughout the year and exceeded 98 per cent compliance in all cleanliness audits
• We made significant progress against the London Strategic Health Authority’s learning disability indicators by creating an easy to read version of the Trust’s website, launching guidelines and a clinical audit programme, and training of over 500 staff in learning disability awareness

Survival rates
The 2011 Dr Foster Hospital Guide details how our Hospital Standardised Mortality Rate (HSMR) shows a third of patients with serious health conditions survived compared with the expected number given the severity of their condition. Another indicator used in the report - the new Standardised Hospital Mortality Indicator (SHMI) – reveals the Trust has the fourth best rates of SHMIs in the country.

Similarly the report draws attention to the Trust good survival rates for patients who have had a stroke and those who have low-risk conditions.

Patient safety
We are in the top ten hospital trusts in England when it comes to patient safety, according to the 2009 Dr Foster Hospital Guide. As of November 2009, we are the only trust in London to have a level three rating from the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA), which demonstrates we are providing a safe environment and safe clinical care.