Cardiac care is 'exceptional'

Survival rates for patients undergoing heart surgery in the UK remain consistently high, according to figures published by the Healthcare Commission last week.

The national survival rate for the 35,000 heart operations performed between April 2006 and March 2007 was 96.6%, up by 0.1% on the previous year.

Based on the percentage range of patients expected to survive, the report said that 32 of the 37 heart centres across the UK performed 'as expected', and five centres performed 'better than expected'.

Leslie Hamilton, president of the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery, said the quality of care in the UK was 'exceptionally and uniformly good'.

The report can be accessed at www.heartsurgery.healthcarecommission.org.uk