Clinical performance indicators at hysterectomy

The short-term complications of hysterectomy in 184 women have been documented over 12 months against a panel of clinical performance indicators in a district general hospital. One hundred and fifty-nine operations (159/184, 86.4%) were performed by the abdominal route; 25/184 (13.6%) by the vaginal route. Clinical indications for hysterectomy varied from menorrhagia (75/184, 40.7%) to Stage III/IV endometriosis (10/184, 5.4%). Clinical performance indicators (cPI) were triggered in 32/184 (17.4%) cases; 19/ 184 (10.3%) triggered a single performance indicator, 9/184 (4.9%) triggered two performance indicators and 4/184 (2.2%) triggered three performance indicators. Combining the number of hysterectomies performed per annum (HYST 1), with the proportion of cases triggering three or more clinical performance indicators (HYST 2) and the rate of hysterectomy for histologically normal uteri weighing less than 120 g excluding genital prolapse (HYST 3) provides a profile of the operation for comparison with other clinical services.