SCTS to launch Thoracic Surgery Registry

The Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery in Great Britain and Ireland (SCTS), working in conjunction with Dendrite Clinical Systems, will soon launch the SCTS Thoracic Surgery Registry.  The Thoracic Surgery Registry will be a centralised, national platform that will enable thoracic surgeons to submit their data and benchmark their outcomes. The registry has been made possible through an education grant from J&J MedTech.

“The key objective of the SCTS Thoracic Surgery Registry is to get a standardised dataset to collect data from multiple thoracic disease states across England, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland, and provide a level of surgical detail that is currently not available,” said Mr Kandadai Seshadri Rammohan, Consultant Thoracic Surgeon at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester Foundation Trust, and SCTS Thoracic Surgery Audit Lead. “As the registry grows and more data is collected, Dendrite will then be able provide individual consultants with real-time ‘Dashboards’ so they will be able to see how they compare to the national average.”

The desire for surgeons to benchmark themselves against national standards has always been a goal for the SCTS. However, the ability to do this is dependent on several factors including how often data are submitted, it what form the data are submitted, how often and to what extent the data are analysed.

According to Mr Rammohan, currently there is no mechanism for collecting thoracic surgery activity and outcomes. He explained that if he was asked to provide data on the one-year survival rate for patients undergoing robotic lung resection or open lung resection, he would be unable to do so. One of the key reasons why the Thoracic Surgery Registrywas established is to address this data gap.

As well as collecting data on patient demographics, the registry will also record procedural data and importantly data on different disease types such as lung cancer, pneumothorax, thymomas etc, as well as post-operative complications such as infections. In addition, the registry will also include an e-PROMs module that will enable patients to remotely enter their data directly into the registry.

“We are hoping to launch the Thoracic Surgery Registry in the next few months. The key to the success of this project is participation and engagement, so we are actively encouraging all thoracic units to register their interest,” he added. “Once the registry is up and running, it is hoped it will collect data on approximately 20,000 thoracic procedures each year. There are 38 thoracic units in England, Ireland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and we hope all these units will contribute their data to this important project.”

Johnson & Johnson MedTech has provided funding for the registry through an unrestricted Educational Grant intended to support independent medical education, in accordance with the MedTech Europe Code of Ethical Business Practice and all applicable laws, regulations, and local industry codes of conduct.

Ehab Bishay, Director of Medical Affairs for the surgery business of Johnson & Johnson MedTech, commented: “We are committed to continuous education for all involved in the care of patients and the launch of the SCTS Thoracic Surgery Registry represents an important milestone in enhancing the evidence base for thoracic disease management, in the UK & Ireland. We believe that this initiative will generate vital data that will improve clinical decision making and drive better outcomes for patients across the UK and Ireland.”

It is important to note that thoracic units can only look at their own data and benchmark their data to the national standard. The Dashboards cannot be used to compare one unit to another unit, and units cannot look at another unit’s data.

One key advantage of the Dashboards is the speed at which units can analyse their data, whether units unload their data monthly or quarterly, comparisons can be made in an instant. The data will be presented in useful graphs and tables with the additional functionality of a data export facility to allow the data to be presented at governance and management meetings.

“At the push of a single button, thoracic consultants will be able to generate comprehensive graphs and tables that illustrate their surgical activity and outcomes benchmarked against nationally collected data,” said Dr Peter Walton, Managing Director of Dendrite. “Dendrite is very pleased to be able to provide this added-value service to the UK community of thoracic surgeons.”

Please contract us if you or your surgical unit would like to know more about Dendrite’s innovative, benchmarking Dashboards and to have a Dashboard demonstration.