News: Scottish CHD standard launched

The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7170 p537-541
20 October 2001

Scottish CHD standard launched

The first national care standard for Scotland was launched by the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland (CSBS) this week.

Patients who have had a heart attack will be able to check the quality of their follow-up care against the standard, which will apply throughout the National Health Service in Scotland.

The standards for secondary prevention of coronary heart disease are the first in a series to be set by the CSBS. A further standard is planned for the management of cancer.

Speaking at the launch, Scottish Health Minister Susan Deacon said: “National standards are not optional ... For the first time, NHS management will be held to account for how well their hospitals match up to them.” She said that she wanted the NHS to address the speed with which thrombolytic drugs were administered to patients once they had been admitted to hospital (the target is that 50 per cent of eligible patients must be given thrombolytic therapy within 30 minutes of presentation to hospital). “We will be monitoring progress in the coming months and will be assessing improvement by the time of the first annual performance reviews of the new NHS boards in April 2002,” she added.

The standard for CHD, which has been endorsed by the Scottish Executive, assesses hospital performance against six main criteria: immediate management following a heart attack, medication to reduce the risk of a further heart attack, assessment of risk factors, cardiovascular status, rehabilitation services and discharge planning and information. The CSBS recommends that information should be electronically transferred from hospitals to general practices so that a summary of the patient’s condition can be provided to their GP within a week of leaving hospital.

Details of the CSBS standard “Coronary heart disease: secondary prevention” are available on the CSBS website (www.clinicalstandards.org) or by telephoning 0131 623 4291.