General Information

The quality programme for colon surgery is the result of a cooperation between the Zurich Association for Surgery (CGZH) and the Amt für Gesundheit. Process, indication and outcome quality was calculated based on preexisting routine data. Comparisons between hospitals are discussed annually between participating clinics in the quality circle. It was decided in the context of the cooperation to cease the developing colon register to mitigate the resources of the hospitals.

As in other quality circles, surgeons must be documented and reported for specific interventions. The interventions, as well as the structure of the quality circle can be found in the concept »Qualitätsprogramm Kolonchirurgie”.

Expert Group

The expert group that supports the evaluation and coordination of the quality circle is newly constituted each year. The following experts contribute to the development with the Amt für Gesundheit:

• Prof. Dr. med. Matthias Turina (USZ)

• Dr. med. Michaela Ramser, MBA (USZ)

• Prof. Dr. med. Urs Zingg (Spital Limmattal)

• Dr. med. Stefan Gutknecht (Stadtspital Zürich, Triemli)

• Dr. med. Vital Schreiber (Spital Uster and President of the der CGZH)

• Dr. med. Peter Šandera (Spitäler Schaffhausen and Department Head of Quality of the der CGZH))

• Torben Schmidt (Managing Director CGZH)

The board of the CGZH is also involved in the development and has a supervisory function (the developed analyses are reviewed and then released by the board)

Updates

• Preview of 2026: The official validating process of risk adjustment for the comparisons between hospitals began in 2026. For this, we are working closely with renowned Swiss universities. This scientific collaboration will help ensure that the hospital comparisons are reliable. Furthermore, additional outcome quality indicators will be developed and the groups of procedures examined will be expanded.

• Update 2025: Through concrete case analyses of hospitals, it was possible to further develop the 2024 model of comparisons of rate of anastomosis insufficiency between hospitals. In 2025 not all colorectal interventions were considered as a single cohort, instead, homogeneous patient and procedure groups were defined in collaboration with the expert group. By doing so, the validity and comparability of the analyses improved. Additionally, the risk adjusted models were significantly further developed.

• Update 2024: the first analysis models for comparisons between hospitals were developed. In addition to process indicators, the focus in the area of outcome quality was on the rate of anastomosis insufficiency.