Global lessons from deaths from heart failure in UK hospitals

The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) has recently published a review of the care received by patients who died in UK hospitals following an admission with acute heart failure (HF).1 A sample of up to six adults who died during an admission to each hospital in the UK in 2016 was selected, with a total of 603 deaths being examined in detail by a multidisciplinary group of case reviewers. Various aspects of care, both organisational and clinical, were reviewed and graded as either good practice, room for improvement or less than satisfactory.