Royal Victoria Hospital

Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery > Hospitals > Royal Victoria Hospital

Introduction

Department of Cardiac Surgery, Royal Hospitals Trust

About the Unit

The Royal Hospitals is Northern Ireland’s biggest and best known hospitals complex. Almost two thirds of the Northern Ireland population live within 40 minutes travel from the 70 acre site which is situated only a few minutes drive from Belfast city centre.The Cardiac Surgery Unit at the Royal Hospitals Trust is a specialised regional service, established in 1968, serving a Northern Ireland population of 1.7 million.

Services provided

Adult Cardiac Surgery
Thoracic Surgery
Congenital Cardiac Surgery

Rehabilitation and follow up

We have 4 phases of rehabilitation. Support and information is given to patients and families about all aspects of heart disease. Once the patient has gone home we will call to see how they are managing and visit where necessary. The patient then returns to hospital to attend an exercise and education programme. Support after this time will be community based.

Access

Bus 95 runs from Donegall Square East regularly. At the visitors' car park you pay before returning to your car. Disabled spaces and set down points are provided near the outpatients’ centre.

Visiting hours

Ward visiting is 15.00-17.00 and 19.30-21.00 with a quiet time between 13.00 and 14.00. No fixed hours for intensive care, but ideally before 21.00.

Location

Department of Cardiac Surgery,
Royal Hospitals Trust,
274 Grosvenor Road,
Belfast,
BT12 6BA

Tel: +44 (0) 28 9024 0503

Trust Website: http://www.belfasttrust.hscni.net/hospitals/RVHIntro.htm

 

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 2016 – March 2019.
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 200
Total thoracic surgery excluding endoscopy all case (excluding endoscopy) 590
Did this hospital perform radical surgery for mesothelioma in 2017-18? Yes
Did this hospital perform chest wall deformity (pectus) surgery in 2017-18? Yes

Consultant Cardiac Surgeons 2015 - 2018: 10

Consultant Congenital Cardiothoracic Surgeons: 1

Consultant Thoracic Surgeons 2017: 0

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