Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT): transforming cardiology care

The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) process is designed to improve the care of patients in the National Health Service (NHS) in England through in-depth review of services, benchmarking and presenting a data-driven evidence base to support change. Although it started as a pilot project targeting unwarranted variation in elective orthopaedic surgery, it rapidly became apparent that the approach of clinically led deep dives to review the activity in individual orthopaedic units was effective in improving standards of care and resulted in substantial cost savings that could be reinvested in the clinical service. GIRFT has now expanded to encompass 40 clinical specialties and is funded nationally by the NHS in England. The purpose of this article is to describe its application and benefit to cardiology.