Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 4 May 2022
482. Deputy Matt Shanahan asked the Minister for Health if he will publish the county of origin that the heart attack patient numbers derive from in the Irish heart attack audit national report 2017-2020; the total number of patients concerned; the actual transfer times for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21953/22]
View answer483. Deputy Matt Shanahan asked the Minister for Health if he will publish the county of origin of heart attack patients highlighted in the Irish Heart Attack Audit National Report 2017-2020 (details supplied); the PCI lab that patients in the cohort were transferred to if any; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21954/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 482 and 483 together.
As PQ 21953/22 and PQ 21954/22 relate to the same subject matter, namely the Irish Heart Attack Audit (IHAA) National Report 2017-2020, I propose to take both PQs together in this response.
The Heartbeat audit of ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) care was first developed in 2012 to assess the effectiveness and quality of the newly formed National Clinical Programme for Acute Coronary Syndrome (NCP-ACS) STEMI optimal reperfusion service. In 2019, that audit came under the governance of the National Office of Clinical Audit (NOCA) and evolved into the IHAA. The overall aim is to conduct an audit of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) care. ACS refers to a group of diseases in which blood flow to the heart decreases, one of which is a STEMI (the medical term for a type of heart attack).
The IHAA National Report 2017-2020 builds on the two reports previously published by the National Clinical Programme. The IHAA report published in April 2022 is the first national IHAA report. It presents data on 5,629 patients who suffered a STEMI and received care in one of nine hospitals in Ireland that provide primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) therapy (insertion of a wire into the blocked artery to open it with a balloon and facilitate stenting).
The staff at NOCA work in collaboration with data users including the Hospital Groups, the HSE Office of the Chief Clinical Officer, and the HSE Business Intelligence Unit to determine relevance of the data in the report. While the report does not provide information for individual counties, the data is presented according to each participating site. In addition, each participating hospital has the functionality to access and use its own data to support quality improvement initiatives and service developments. The IHAA Report is published by NOCA for the purposes of healthcare quality improvement.
