Report Sheds Light on Surgery-Related Deaths

Report Sheds Light on Surgery-Related Deaths

A new report out today sheds light on the death rates from four areas of surgery and anaesthesia, and recommends improvements to the way patients are assessed for risk.

The Perioperative Mortality Review Committee (POMRC) has released its second report to the Health Quality & Safety Commission (the Commission), and this is available from the Commissions website at http://www.hqsc.govt.nz.

The POMRC, which operates under the umbrella of the Commission, reviews deaths related to surgery and anaesthesia which occur within 30 days of an operative procedure.

The Chair, Dr Leona Wilson, says it is reported that an estimated 230 million-plus major surgical procedures are carried out around the world each year, but the risks of death related to surgery and anaesthesia are still not well known.

We wanted to contribute to the health sectors knowledge of mortality rates and further understand the strengths and weaknesses of the national data sets we were drawing information from, says Dr Wilson.

Professor Alan Merry, Commission Chair, welcomes the report.

Understanding the risks associated with surgery is essential for assisting patients in making appropriate choices between health care options, for improving the safety of surgery and for ensuring the best value is obtained from the resources invested in health care, he says.

For example, this report illustrates the tragedy and waste that occurs when a patient dies from a pulmonary embolism that could potentially have been prevented.

The POMRC report drew on data from the National Mortality Collection and the National Minimum Dataset to examine death rates in four clinically important areas:

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Report Sheds Light on Surgery-Related Deaths