A HAMPSHIRE hospital has topped the UK rankings of a study into survival rates of heart surgery patients.

The Spire Hospital in Southampton cemented its place as one of the top cardiac hospitals in the UK following the results of the latest audit by the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgery in Great Britain and Ireland (SCTS).

It is one of only three hospitals, and the only private hospital, to receive a letter of congratulations from the SCTS for recording a survival rate higher than expected, based on a risk adjusted outcome model.

Their survival rate of 99.4% is the highest of any of the 40 hospitals included in the study – the national survival was 98.04%.

Spire Southampton’s Hospital director, Margaret Da Costa, praised the efforts of the cardiac team.

“This audit recognises both the complexity of the cardiac surgery carried out at Spire and the outstanding work of both the surgeons and cardiac teams within the hospital,” she said.

The study compares cardiac outcomes over a three year period between April 2013 to March 2016.

The complexity of the surgery and survival rates are ‘risk adjusted’ to take into account a patient’s health which allows fair comparisons between hospitals to be made.