389 General Surgery Operative Cancellations Within Aberdeen Royal Infirmary 2019

Introduction Operative cancellation rates can be up to 17.6%, resulting in delays to patient treatment and management. This audit was conducted to assess underlying reasons for operative cancellations with the aim to minimise cancellations in the future. Method A retrospective review of General surgery operative cancellations during 2019 at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary was undertaken. Data was obtained from Theatre Management. Results 28548 operations were performed across all surgical specialities during 2019 with 2664 operations cancelled. Within General Surgery, 447 were cancelled (182 emergency (40.7%), 265 electives (59.3%)). The most common reason was lack of theatre time for elective cases and procedure no longer needed for emergency cases. For cancelled elective surgeries, there was a median time of 29 days before being operated. Conclusions We highlight that both elective and emergency operations are susceptible to cancellation. There are clear differences in the reason of cancellation between elective and emergency. Going forward, it is worth discussing booking emergency operations with the on-call consultant to ensure they are necessary. Regarding elective operation cancellations due to lack of theatre time it would be imperative to assess the exact cause of this as to minimise operative cancellations. We plan re-audit once a departmental discussion has been made.

A day in the life of a Clinical Scientist

Allan Dunlop graduated with a BSc in Medical Biochemistry from the University of Glasgow, where he subsequently completed his PhD. He then worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the area of cAMP phosphodiesterases and cellular signalling and undertook training as a Clinical Scientist in the department of Biochemistry at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. Allan is currently employed as a Principal Clinical Scientist in the department of Clinical Biochemistry at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. Lorenza Giannella (Training Manager, Biochemical Society) spoke to him about his work.