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Newcastle Hospitals top performers for major aortic aneurysm surgery

The national NHS Website, NHS Choices has recognised the Newcastle Hospitals as one of the three top performers for elective Aortic Aneurysm Surgery in the UK. Hospital survival rates for this operation have been published for hospitals across the country and the surgeons at the Freeman Hospital, where these operations are performed, were delighted to hear that their results were some of the best.

Mr Michael G Wyatt, Head of Department, praised the team of six Vascular Surgeons and 4 interventional radiologists who provided this service and said that the Northern Vascular Centre at the Freeman Hospital had always led in the development and adoption of modern minimally invasive ways of treating patients with aortic aneurysm.

The Northern Vascular Centre centralised vascular services for Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland over 10 years ago and its surgeons and radiologists work in clinical teams to provide an excellent service to patients which has resulted in these excellent survival figures.
 
Mr Wyatt says “We were one of the first hospitals in the UK to establish an endovascular stent programme and have taught many other hospitals in this new technology. We have now performed over 400 aortic stent grafts and those patients with more complex aneurysms are treated by teams of surgeons, radiologists and anaesthetists utilising the most modern of operative, anaesthetic and intensive care techniques. The Northern Vascular Centre receives referrals from many hospitals in England and Scotland and has developed an international reputation for its aneurysm work”.

We are shortly to introduce a National Aortic Aneurysm Screening Programme for the North East, and this will allow us to detect aneurysms at an earlier stage and allow early treatment with minimal risk and further improvement to the service provided to patients in this region.

Mr Wyatt has nothing but praise for the “Vascular Team” at the Freeman Hospital, and is especially grateful to the incredible work performed by the Ward, Theatre, Intensive Care and Research Nurses, who are equally responsible for these fantastic results.

Find out more about our Vascular Unit here.

Notes to Editors:

• Aneurysms occur within main blood vessels (also known as an artery) when a weakness develops on the wall of the artery. The largest artery in the body is called the aorta which carries blood from the heart through the chest and abdomen to the legs. The part of the aorta where an aneurysm most commonly occurs is where it passes through the abdomen – this is known as an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA).
• Occasionally an AAA ruptures and can lead to serious problems such as heavy bleeding and can be fatal. They are much more common in men than women and more likely to happen if you smoke, have high blood pressure or a family history. Screening can show whether or not you have an AAA and how large it is and if you are considered to be at high risk, surgery to repair the aneurysm can be offered to prevent further damage.
• The national health website NHS Choices  published hospital survival rates for three of the most common operations:

o AAA (planned [elective] and unplanned [emergency]
o Hip replacement
o Knee replacement

• For each of these, the overall rating is presented as a response to the question “Is the mortality rate for this treatment better or worse than expected, for the types of cases treated?” For each Trust one of the following answers was given:

(i)   The mortality rate is better than the expected range.
(ii)  The mortality rate is within the expected range.
(iii) The mortality rate is worse than the expected range.

• Hospitals which performed better than the expected range were as follows:

(i)    For AAA (elective): The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
(ii)   For AAA (emergency): Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
(iii)  For Hip replacement (elective, planned): No hospitals in this category
(iv)  For Knee replacement (elective, planned): East Kent NHS Trust

• These indicators are derived from Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and are based on deaths in hospital within 30 days of the given procedure over a three-year period (November 2004 – November 2007). Deaths after discharge from hospital or more than 30 days after the procedure are not counted. The indicators are adjusted for a number of factors, including age, sex, deprivation, and co-morbidity.
• The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust falls within the expected range for the other categories of operations.