Reviewing home oxygen services.

Home oxygen therapy costs millions of pounds every year and demand for the service is growing. As part of the Department of Health's respiratory programme, NHS Improvement--Lung works with several clinical teams in England to address variations in patient care. This article discusses how oxygen service assessment and review can save money and raise the quality of care.

Use of statistical process control to support improved care for patients with acute myocardial infarction eligible for thrombolytic treatment: experience from 2 hospitals in England during 2002-2003.

Efforts to reduce mortality from acute myocardial infarction (MI) through expediting thrombolytic and other reperfusion treatments have included the publication of clinical guidelines and standards of care for "door-to-needle" time in many countries. Across England, the National Service Framework, a national program of reform of cardiac care in the National Health Service, has resulted in, inter alia, significant reductions in treatment delay for thrombolysis-eligible patients. One component of the improvement program has been the use of service improvement methodologies, including statistical process control. We describe the early experience of 2 general hospitals in improving care of thrombolysis-eligible MI patients.