News

A new toolkit designed to help acute hospitals learn from retrospective mortality reviews is being launched today (Thursday 7 June)

The toolkit is the result of a collaboration between the Royal College of Physicians and two Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) – Yorkshire & Humber and West of England.

It is aimed at supporting organisations in standardising mortality reviews and translating their findings into quality improvement initiatives by using a methodology called the Structured Judgement Review (SJR).

This method was developed and validated by Professor Allen Hutchinson from the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN’s Improvement Academy and allows trusts to learn about both the good and not-so-good care in their health processes.

The toolkit brings together learnings from the National Mortality Case Record Review (NMCRR) and the Yorkshire and Humber mortality programme.

The NMCRR programme aims to improve understanding and learning about problems and processes in healthcare and to share best practice. It helps healthcare professionals to identify themes and address deficiencies in processes and patient care.

The Yorkshire and Humber Mortality Review Programme, set up in 2013, now includes 19 acute and mental health NHS trusts that have adopted the SJR methodology and demonstrated real and lasting change in care delivery systems.

Members of the West of England Patient Safety Collaborative, coordinated by the West of England AHSN, adopted a partnership approach to implementation of the Structured Judgement Review methodology. This Collaborative includes acute trusts, mental health providers, primary care and public contributors.

This toolkit therefore captures the experience and learning of the Collaborative in implementing the Structured Judgement Review in the hope it will inform and support others.

Dr Andrew Gibson, NMCRR Clinical Lead for the Royal College of Physicians, said: “The toolkit has been a truly collaborative and successful project in providing acute hospitals with all the information needed to set up systems to enable them to learn from retrospective mortality reviews.”

Prof Hutchinson, Lead Methodologist at the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN’s Improvement Academy, commented: “This toolkit should act as a practical guide for organisations, supporting them in translating the themes from their mortality reviews into real, practical quality improvement initiatives.”