Introduction
North of Scotland Cardiothoracic Surgery Unit, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
About the unit
We provide adult cardiac and thoracic surgical services in the north of Scotland including Orkney and Shetland. Located at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary Foresterhill site, the unit also has satellite outpatient facilities at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee and Raigmore Hospital, Inverness.
Services provided
Adult Cardiac Surgery
Thoracic Surgery
Rehabilitation and follow up
6-8 weeks postoperatively
Access
Buses run frequently from city centre and station. Car parks (charges apply) are provided for patients and visitors. The unit is located in ARI Phase 2; the Cardiac ICU is on the lower ground, the Ward and High Dependency Unit on the 5th – wards 50 and 51.
Visiting hours
Visting is 2:30pm – 5:00pm and 6:30pm – 8:00pm
Location
North of Scotland Cardiothoracic Surgery Unit (NOS-CTS),
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary,
Foresterhill,
Aberdeen,
AB25 2ZN
Tel: 0845 4566000
Trust Website: http://www.nhsgrampian.org/
Cardiac Outcomes
Risk adjusted in-hospital survival rate
This graph shows the “in hospital” survival rate of patients who are operated on by the individual surgeon/unit you have selected. “In hospital” means time the patient is in the hospital where they have had their operation. It does not include any time that patients may have spent in other hospitals, either before or after their heart operation.
The data has been through a complex methodology, including the variations in patient risk factors in order to give you a comparative base from which to work from. This means that the survival rates take into account the type and risk of patients being operated on for each surgeon/unit. This is known as risk adjusted survival.
The vertical axis shows the GMC number of the surgeon or the Hospital identifier. In brackets is the total number of patients operated on by the surgeon/unit and the percentage of patients for whom the survival is known. The horizontal axis is the percentage survival. The dashed vertical line shows the risk adjusted survival rate for the UK as a whole. The solid black horizontal line represents the surgeon/unit. What is important here is that the horizontal line crosses the vertical dashed line. If this occurs, it means that the surgeon/unit are within the expected outcomes given the case-mix and risk factors of the patients they operate on.
The icons that sit on the horizontal line should give you more information about your surgeon/team.
For example
The open square is the survival rate with no risk adjustments:
The X is the predicted survival with adjustments
The solid dot is the survival probability after the methodology has been applied.
- If the solid dot is red it means survival is worse than expected
- If the solid dot is black it means that it is within limits
- If the solid dot is green it means that there is significantly higher survival than expected
There is a lot of information on these plots, but the takeaway message is that if the solid black line crosses the dashed vertical line then the survival rate for the surgeon/unit is within expectations and that there is no reason for any concern.
A more detailed explanation about these graphs and methodology can be found here: Graph Explanations
Data for period April 2015 – March 2018.
Risk Adjusted In-Hospital Survival Rate
Thoracic Outcomes
Thoracic surgery units also undertake surgery for lung cancer, and other cancers within the chest such as thymoma or mesothelioma, collapsed lungs known as pneumothorax, major infections and to biopsy suspicious areas, among other surgery. The SCTS collects data on these other operations in the thoracic registry. Some data for this hospital from the 2017-18 audit year* is given below;
| Cases Performed | |
| Primary lung cancer resections all primary lung cancer resections | 57 |
| Total thoracic surgery excluding endoscopy all case (excluding endoscopy) | 185 |
| Did this hospital perform radical surgery for mesothelioma in 2017-18? | No |
| Did this hospital perform chest wall deformity (pectus) surgery in 2017-18? | Yes |
Consultant Cardiac Surgeons 2015 - 2018: 4
Consultant Congenital Cardiothoracic Surgeons: 0
Consultant Thoracic Surgeons 2017: 0