NOD is a core element of the RCOphth's quality improvement work delivering on the organistion's vision to ensure everyone has access to and receives high quality eye care for prevention and treatment of eye disease to optimise, preserve and restore sight.
There are three sets of reports from the cataract audit that allows you and your teams to compare your performance. Notes on the models and additional information can be found in each section.
The data you can interrogate in the login section contains data received from organisations from the point on which they were able to send data to the NOD. Some organisations have data on treatment as far back as 2010 so you can see changes over time.
The published results show how surgeons and hospitals compare with expected outcomes. There are two specific measures; The number of patients whose eyesight gets worse and the number of patients who experience posterior capsular rupture (PCR) during surgery.
To make comparisons as fair as possible, surgeons who undertake high risk cases are given appropriate credit for the complexity of their work. We have a full explanation analysis models we use for the cataract audit, so you can view the methodology that was used to create the case complexity adjusted PCR and visual loss models that have been applied.
The frequently asked questions about how to validate the data used in the Cataract Audit is available below.
Posterior capsular rupture (PCR) is the most common complication during cataract surgery and is accepted as a marker of surgical skill.
Posterior capsular rupture (PCR) is defined for the purposes of the National Audit as “rupture of the posterior capsule with or without vitreous prolapse, or zonule rupture with vitreous prolapse” and abbreviated simply as PCR. It should be noted that the definition excludes zonule dehiscence where no vitreous prolapse has occurred. PCR is the most important intraoperative complication and when it occurs as defined above, there is a 6 fold increased risk of vision loss, a 7 fold increased risk of endophthalmitis, and a within one year of cataract surgery a 20 fold increased risk of post cataract retinal detachment. Although PCR as defined may occasionally be unavoidable it is generally accepted as an indicator of surgical quality. These graphs show individual surgeons' rates, both unadjusted and adjusted for case-mix, and each contributing centre's rates, both unadjusted and adjusted for case-mix. Data available from 01/04/2010 to 31/03/2023.
Vision Loss is vision which is significantly worse after the operation than before as measured by the sight test letter reading chart. These graphs show individual surgeons' rates, both unadjusted and adjusted for case-mix, and each contributing centre's rates, both unadjusted and adjusted for case-mix.