The British Cardiovascular Intervention Society (BCIS) started a national data collection programme in the late 1980s, reporting annually from 1988.1-4 The development of angioplasty in the UK from 1992 to 1996 is outlined elsewhere in this supplement.5For any society collecting data from a large number of centres, it is essential to start with a minimum dataset which encourages all centres to participate, promotes accurate data collection, and gives a reasonable overview of national activity. Analysis of relatively simple datasets can only answer a few, predominantly demographic, questions. If a national survey is to be transformed into a vehicle for audit, the dataset must include sufficient variables to allow meaningful analysis.

Clinical governance demands a process of evaluation of the outcome of patients after procedures; without this an individual clinician has limited means of determining whether his or her results are acceptable. This paper outlines the continuing growth of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) in the UK, and identifies weaknesses in the present methods of data collection. BCIS aims to encourage better data collection and is committed to the use of the central cardiac audit database (CCAD),6 which will provide a means of appropriate analysis and feedback for centres participating in PCIs as well as for individual clinicians. Several recommendations are made.