On 13.03.25 NICOR published the 2025 CHD annual report.
https://www.nicor.org.uk/~documents/route%3A/download/3672
At a glance, the promising stuff is;
“The unadjusted 30-day surgical mortality for cases involving children with congenital heart disease is the lowest seen in the last 10 years”.
“Risk-adjusted mortality based on VLAD charts shows that the outcomes for children with congenital heart disease are better than predicted”.
“This underlines how surgical teams continue to deliver high quality outcomes for children undergoing CHD procedures”.
But… the not so good stuff;
“52% antenatal diagnosis for all infants requiring a procedure in the first year of life has plateaued over the last five years”.
“Over the last 7 years, the rate of antenatal diagnosis has plateaued at just over 50%”.
“For those requiring a procedure in the first year of life, the prenatal detection of Transposition of the Great Arteries with intact ventricular septum (TGA IVS) was highest in 2023/24 at 91%, improved from the previous year”. However; “Detection rates for all the remaining lesions [Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), Tetralogy of Fallot, Atrio-ventricular septal defect (AVSD)] were lower than the previous year. While this could be due to cyclical variation, the data could reflect: a genuine fall in detection, an increase in the termination of pregnancy for these diagnoses, [or] differences in screening timing and methods used by sonographers".
“The total number of procedures for patients with congenital heart disease remains below the pre-pandemic level”. “Activity is still around 10% lower than prior to the pandemic”. “Surgical procedures have failed to climb to pre-pandemic levels at most paediatric centres”.
Our region (South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw) is still seemingly one of the worst performing year on year.
It’s important to read these reports in conjunction with the NCHDA Methodology explanatory material
https://www.nicor.org.uk/~documents/route%3A/download/3670
The usual NICOR recommendations are seen;
“Hospitals undertaking antenatal screening to diagnose conditions requiring intervention in the first year should improve their success rates by working with congenital heart disease (CHD) networks to review staffing, infrastructure, education and training”.
Significantly, no mention again of fetal cardiac view retention like there was by NICOR in 2023.