Objectives To conduct an independent evaluation of the first phase of the Health
Foundation's Safer Patients Initiative (SPI), and to identify the net additional effect of SPI and …

Objective To assess the validity of case mix adjustment methods used to derive
standardised mortality ratios for hospitals, by examining the consistency of relations …

Objective To independently evaluate the impact of the second phase of the Health
Foundation's Safer Patients Initiative (SPI2) on a range of patient safety measures. Design A …

Background Although acute hospitals offer a twenty-four hour seven day a week service
levels of staffing are lower over the weekends and some health care processes may be less …

Background Increased mortality rates associated with weekend hospital admission (the so-
called weekend effect) have been attributed to suboptimum staffing levels of specialist …

Background There are data on the safety of cancer surgery and the efficacy of preventive
strategies on the prevention of postoperative symptomatic COVID-19 in these patients. But …

Background General practitioners' remuneration is now linked directly to the scores attained
in the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF). The success of this approach depends in …

The frequency of visits to Emergency Departments (ED) varies greatly between populations.
This may reflect variation in patient behaviour, need, accessibility, and service configuration …

Introduction Excess body weight causes 4 million deaths annually across the world. The
number of people affected by humanitarian crises stands at a record high level with 1 in 95 …

Objective To determine whether the higher weekend admission mortality risk is attributable
to increased severity of illness. Design Retrospective analysis of 4 years weekend and …