Clinical outcomes
Surgery cancelled
Surgery may be cancelled if the patient has a
high temperature or a cold when he/she is admitted to hospital.
Another explanation for a cancellation may be due to our stringent
risk
assessment procedures which screen patients prior to admission.
If a patient is not deemed fit for surgery, the procedure may be
cancelled or postponed whilst the appropriate treatment is
given.
1.3% of surgical cases were cancelled at the Clinic in
2008.
Unplanned return to theatre
The reason the Clinic has such favourable
statistics in this area is largely down to our stringent risk
assessments that we have developed to determine whether a patient
is considered at ‘high risk’ prior to surgery. The series of tests
carried out enables us to asses a patient’s operative risk so that
appropriate treatment can be carried out before admission and/or
after surgery, helping to minimise their operative risk. Such
innovative techniques for screening our patients help to ensure
that we keep the number of unplanned returns to theatre as low as
possible.
In 2008, 0.3% of the total number of surgical
discharges were required to return to theatre for an unplanned
procedure following their initial surgery.
Unplanned readmission within 31
days for the same or related condition
Due to our specialist clinical teams, support services and our
considerable investment in medical and surgical technology,
consultants are able to undertake highly complex procedures at the
Clinic, in addition to routine surgery and medicine. Patients
undergoing such procedures often have an increased risk of
re-admission. Despite the complexity of our many of our procedures,
The London Clinic continues to have a very low rate of unplanned
re-admission.
Only 0.95% of patients in 2008 were re-admitted to the
hospital within 31 days of being discharged.
Deep vein
thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) following
surgery
In 2008, 0.25% of the total number of surgical
discharges developed deep vein thrombosis (DVT) following
surgery at the Clinic and 0.08% developed post operative
pulmonary
embolism (PE).
The London Clinic is the first private
hospital to introduce a comprehensive thrombosis risk assessment
programme for patients.
Patients admitted to our
hospital undergo a standard risk assessment upon admission for
a potential thrombosis. This assessment provides the patient
and admitting consultant with an understanding of the individual's
risk of developing DVT and PE complications. Such an
assessment helps the admitting consultant plan the best
approach to preventing these complications.