National audit of continence care for older people: management of urinary incontinence.

INTRODUCTION: the Department of Health report 'Good practice in continence services' highlights the need for proper assessment and management of urinary incontinence. The National Service Framework for Older People required service providers to establish integrated continence services by April 2004. A national audit was conducted to assess the quality of continence care for older people and whether these requirements have been met. METHOD: the audit studied incontinent individuals of 65 years and over. Each site returned data on organisational structure and the process of 20 patients' care. Data were submitted via the internet, and all were anonymous. RESULTS: the national audit was conducted across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Data on the care of patients/residents with bladder problems were returned by 141/326 (43%) of primary care trusts (PCT), by 159/196 (81%) of secondary care trusts (involving 198 hospitals) and by 29/309 (9%) of invited care homes. In all 58% of PCT, 48% of hospitals and 74% of care homes reported that integrated continence services existed in their area. Whilst basic provision of care appeared to be in place, the audit identified deficiencies in the organisation of services, and in the assessment and management of urinary incontinence in the elderly. CONCLUSION: the results of this audit indicate that the requirement for integrated continence services has not yet been met. Assessment and care by professionals directly looking after the older person were often lacking. There is an urgent need to re-establish the fundamentals of continence care into the practice of medical and nursing staff and action needs to be taken with regard to the establishment of truly integrated, quality services in this neglected area of practice.

National audit of continence care for older people: management of faecal incontinence.

INTRODUCTION: Faecal incontinence in older people is associated with considerable morbidity but is amenable to successful management. Quality standards in this area were previously subject to a pilot audit in primary, secondary care and care homes to allow providers to compare the care delivered by their service to others and to monitor the development of integrated continence services as set out in the National Service Framework for Older People. This study reports the results of the national audit. RESULTS: Data were returned by 141 primary care sites, 159 secondary care trusts (involving 198 hospitals) and 29 care homes. Data on the care of 3,059 patients/residents with bowel problems were analysed. Fifty-eight per cent of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), 48% of hospitals and 74% of care homes reported that integrated continence services existed in their areas. Whilst basic provision of care appeared to be in place, the audit identified deficiencies in the organisation of services and in the assessment and management of faecal incontinence. CONCLUSION: The results of this audit indicate that the requirement for integrated continence services contained within the National Service Framework for Older People has not yet been met. Basic assessment and care by the professionals directly looking after older persons is often lacking. There is an urgent need to re-establish the fundamentals of continence care into the daily practice of medical and nursing staff, and undoubtedly, action needs to be taken with regard to the establishment of truly integrated, quality services in this neglected area of practice.

National audit of continence care: laying the foundation.

INTRODUCTION: National audit provides a basis for establishing performance against national standards, benchmarking against other service providers and improving standards of care. For effective audit, clinical indicators are required that are valid, feasible to apply and reliable. This study describes the methods used to develop clinical indicators of continence care in preparation for a national audit. AIM: To describe the methods used to develop and test clinical indicators of continence care with regard to validity, feasibility and reliability. METHOD: A multidisciplinary working group developed clinical indicators that measured the structure, process and outcome of care as well as case-mix variables. Literature searching, consensus workshops and a Delphi process were used to develop the indicators. The indicators were tested in 15 secondary care sites, 15 primary care sites and 15 long-term care settings. RESULTS: The process of development produced indicators that received a high degree of consensus within the Delphi process. Testing of the indicators demonstrated an internal reliability of 0.7 and an external reliability of 0.6. Data collection required significant investment in terms of staff time and training. CONCLUSION: The method used produced indicators that achieved a high degree of acceptance from health care professionals. The reliability of data collection was high for this audit and was similar to the level seen in other successful national audits. Data collection for the indicators was feasible to collect, however, issues of time and staffing were identified as limitations to such data collection. The study has described a systematic method for developing clinical indicators for national audit. The indicators proved robust and reliable in primary and secondary care as well as long-term care settings.

Secondary prevention for stroke in the United Kingdom: results from the National Sentinel Audit of Stroke.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To measure the quality of secondary prevention of stroke provided to patients in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. DESIGN: Retrospective case note analysis. SETTING: 235 hospitals (95% of all such hospitals), providing care for acute stroke patients in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and primary health care for follow-up data. PATIENTS: 8,200 patients admitted with stroke between 1(st) April and 30(th) June 2001. Data on up to 40 consecutive cases submitted by each hospital. AUDIT TOOL: Royal College of Physicians Intercollegiate Stroke Working Party Stroke Audit. RESULTS: 24% of patients with previous cerebrovascular disease were not on anti-thrombotic medication at the time of admission. Nine percent of appropriate patients were not taking anti-thrombotic medication at discharge. Patients left with moderate to very severe disability (Barthel scores 14 or less) compared with those independent with mild disability (Barthel score 15-20) were more likely not to have anti-thrombotic treatment (18% versus 8%). Fifty-four percent of patients with known hyperlipidaemia and 21% of those with previous ischaemic heart disease were on lipid lowering therapy on admission. Sixty-four percent of patients had lipids measured during their hospital stay and of those with high total cholesterol or LDL the rate of non-treatment was 36%. Older patients (75+ years) were less likely to be treated (54%) than those <65 years (71%). Seventy-nine percent of known patients with hypertension were on treatment at admission, with 78% being treated by discharge from hospital. At 6 months after stroke a systolic blood pressure of 140 mmHg or less, and a diastolic of 85 mmHg or less, was achieved in 41% of known pre-stroke hypertensives on treatment, 31% of previously untreated hyper-tensives but on treatment at follow-up and 40% of patients not previously labelled as hypertensive. CONCLUSIONS: Major deficiencies in delivery of secondary prevention after stroke have been demonstrated. Services need reorganisation to prevent unnecessary mortality and morbidity in this group of patients.