Annex A > Chapter 19 - Statistics Relating to the Clinical Performance of Paediatric Cardiac Surgical Services in Bristol Compared with Other Specialist Centres during the Period 1984 to 1995 > Statistics relating to clinical performance produced by the clinicians in Bristol > The South West Congenital Heart Register
<< previous | next >>
The South West Congenital Heart Register
36 The cardiologists also developed a system [58] for keeping records of all children seen by them with a congenital heart defect. Dr Jordan stated [59] that the system had a long history, as records had moved from books containing notes onto various early computer systems (from 1973 onwards), until the Bristol and South West Children's Heart Circle purchased a computer which was capable of holding a database of information. Dr Jordan engaged his son to write a software application to make the system more `user-friendly'. A small research grant from the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) paid for a part-time secretary to input the data. Any patient from the South West seen by the cardiologists who was considered to have organic heart disease, had details of the clinical diagnosis entered on the computer. Some 96 items were recorded for each patient. The uses of the database permitted identification of all patients by multiple parameters; for example, all patients with Down's syndrome or AVSD, [60] the first operation under 1 year of age, and the particular surgeon.
`In general, while the system probably sounds to be amateurish and was by no means perfect, it was better than most units had in place. Clearly it would have been better if we had had more clerical and computer staff, but we had no finances to pay for this. ... Even with the system as it was, I could have made much more use of it if I had had more time.' [61]
<< previous | next >> | back to top
Footnotes
[58] This is distinct from the `Cardiologists' Card Index System', referred to earlier, which was kept by the cardiologists' secretaries at the Children's Hospital
[59] WIT 0099 0001 Dr Jordan
[60] See Chapter 3 for an explanation of this term
[61] WIT 0099 0003 - 0004 Dr Jordan