According to this article on BBC News, patients undergoing heart bypass surgery might not be receiving the best possible care. A worldwide study conducted by the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death on 20,000 patients suggests among of third of the patients who did not survive, delays were to blame.
Problems were found in all processes beginning from start to finish. Delays after a referral to the cardiologist, the way tests were carried out, communication between doctors, and post-op treatment and care all attributed to the death of many patients. An example is given of how one patient was referred to a cardiologist by his general doctor, but since the cardiologist went on vacation the letter remained unopened for a whole month. The patient’s condition worsened dramatically and he died shortly after the operation.
The Chairman of NCEPOD, Professor Tom Treasure mentions:
"Coronary surgery will not always succeed and death comes to us all in the end but if the means at our disposal are not deployed effectively and in a timely way, appropriate to the circumstances, lives that might have been saved will be lost."
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