Patients needing emergency bowel surgery face “unacceptable delays” at hospital getting into theatre—up to five times longer than recommended—an audit has found.
New data also show 14% of high risk patients did not receive immediate postoperative critical care, contrary to published guidance. Instead, they were transferred to a normal ward following surgery and 7% of these patients subsequently died.
Claire Shannon, president of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, said the findings in the national emergency laparotomy audit (NELA) were especially concerning given the high risk nature of the surgery. NELA is led by the Royal College of …
