This report concerns quality of care in the Danish hospitals and unfounded differences herein. The report addresses quality of care delivered within the following areas of disease: heart failure, chronical obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cerebral apoplexy (stroke) and hip fractures.
The purpose of the study is to assess whether the Ministry of Health and the regions have taken steps to obtain knowledge of any unfounded differences in the quality of care provided in the hospitals. The study answers the following questions:
- Have the Ministry of Health and the regions established frameworks that adequately ensure that all patients have equal access to quality care in the hospitals, which makes it possible for the regions and the hospitals to identify the causes of any differences in the quality of care in the hospitals and reduce unfounded differences?
- Are there unfounded differences in the extent to which the care provided in the hospitals to patients with heart failure, COPD, stroke and hip fractures is consistent with all relevant process indicators?
It is Rigsrevisionen's assessment that the Ministry of Health and the regions have not taken adequate steps to obtain knowledge of whether there are unfounded differences in the quality of cared provided in the hospitals. This means that the ministry and the regions are unaware of any unfounded differences in the quality of care and their impact on the patients' subsequent risk of readmission and death.
Rigsrevisionen initiated the study in June 2017.
Read the introduction and conclusion (PDF)