The National Mortality Case Record Review (NMCRR) programme aims to improve understanding and learning about problems and processes in healthcare associated with mortality, and also to share best practice.
It will also help healthcare professionals to identify themes and address deficiencies in processes and patient care. Once the standardised review process is implemented within governance and quality improvement structures, hospitals, staff, patients and families will benefit from better care, outcomes and confidence in an open and honest culture.
NMCRR programme and clinical governance
The aim of the 3-year programme is to introduce a standardised methodology for reviewing case records of adult patients who have died in acute general hospitals in England and Scotland. The primary goal is to improve healthcare quality through qualitative analysis of mortality data using a standardised, validated approach linked to quality improvement activity. The work will not cover deaths that occur in other settings.
Around 50% of all deaths occur in hospital. Most of these are inevitable, but around 3–5% of acute hospital deaths are thought to be potentially preventable. The structured judgement review (SJR) review methodology has been validated and used in practice within a large NHS region.
It is based upon the principle that trained clinicians use explicit statements to comment on the quality of healthcare in a way that allows a judgement to be made that is reproducible. This method is described in detail in the accompanying documentation, 'A guide for reviewers' by Dr Allen Hutchinson, which you can download at the bottom of this page.