This summer, the HiSLAC study launch their fifth and final survey to help create a nationwide ‘snapshot’ of specialist intensity and 7-day services.
The annual Point Prevalence Survey will be distributed to consultants and associate specialists, via local project leads, in mid-June.
HiSLAC (High-Intensity Specialist Led Acute Care) seeks to determine whether having more specialists in hospitals at weekends will improve outcomes for patients admitted as medical emergencies.
Distributed via a senior consultant project lead in participating NHS Trusts, the web-based questionnaire takes just two minutes to complete and aims to capture a snapshot of the number of consultants on duty on a reference Wednesday and Sunday each June. The information remains completely anonymous.
June 2018 marks the fifth and final HiSLAC Point Prevalence Survey. Since the survey began in 2014, researchers based at the University of Birmingham have gathered 56,000 responses from 80 per cent of acute Trusts in England.
With the survey data researchers hope to ultimately establish whether there is a correlation between specialist (senior doctor) intensity and weekend/weekday admission mortality. Other parts of the study are investigating weekend/weekday care quality (case record review); care processes (ethnography); as well as the cost effectiveness (health economics).
Published: Monday, 14 May 2018