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PRIORITY SCORING OF UNMET NEED FOR PATIENTS WITH VARICOSE VEINS
Author(s) -
Horrocks E.,
Lewis D. R.,
Roake J. A.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
anz journal of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.426
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-2197
pISSN - 1445-1433
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-2197.2007.04134_7.x
Subject(s) - medicine , varicose veins , cohort , christian ministry , scoring system , surgery , general surgery , emergency medicine , philosophy , theology
Purpose Surgery for symptomatic varicose veins (vv’s) has been shown to be clinically and cost effective but few varicose vein operations are performed at Christchurch Hospital, New Zealand. A scoring system has been designed by NZ Vascular Surgeons and The Ministry of Health to grade priority of patients with vv’s. The aim of this study was to assess how many patients, recently removed from the hospital waiting list, score highly enough to still warrant surgery. Methods A cohort of 77 patients, returned to GP care, was identified and scored according to their clinical records. The scoring system assessed the following six areas applying a weighted score to each domain: Extent of disease; Severity of disease; Disability; Surgery (simple or complex); Contraindications to surgery and ASA Score. Results The median (range) age was 58 (28–81) years with a M : F ratio of 2 : 1. The mean score was 72% (range 31–96%). 66 patients (86%) achieved high enough priority scores to still need surgery. Conclusion Of the 77 patients recently removed from the varicose vein waiting list the vast majority still need surgery in the public system. These patients should not have been removed from the waiting list, rather additional funding is needed so that vascular surgeons can address this unmet need.