Foreword
NI Unit 2021 Snapshot
852 659 13%
We are pleased to present the 2021 Annual Report for the Royal North Shore Hospital Neurointervention Unit. The Neurointervention (NI) Unit managed to maintain the momentum last year, with a major highlight being progression on the relocation of the service into a new purpose-built neurointerventional suite within the operating theatres. This transition has enabled discussions around service planning, factoring in increased activity based on trending data, and future workforce and resource requirements. Throughout 2021, the NI Unit continued to provide excellent care for neurovascular patients from the Northern Sydney Local Health District (NSLHD), Central Coast Local Health District (CCLHD) and other areas across New South Wales (NSW). From 2020 to 2021, the total procedural workload slightly decreased, in contrast to previous years which have seen an increase of 11-13% per year since 2017. We believe this to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in operating list cancellation, bed block and staff furloughs. Despite COVID-19 impacting the community for parts of 2021, we were able to keep emergency activity within the NI Unit going and we would like to extend our thanks to all staff for their efforts in servicing our patients during this time. We have continued our work in research on stroke treatment and the outcomes we have seen in severe stroke patients presenting to Royal North Shore (RNSH) and Westmead Hospitals have been promising. On behalf of the RNSH NI Unit, we would like to thank the Surgical Education Research & Training (SERT) Institute and the Data Analysis and Surgical Outcomes (DASO) Unit for their ongoing support and assistance.
Total procedures performed A total of 852 NI procedures were performed by the RNSH consultants in 2021, this number includes both diagnostic and treatment procedures.
Emergency procedures performed In 2021, the team performed a total of 659 emergency procedures, accounting for a 77% majority of the total workload.
Dr Nazih Assaad Head of Department RNSH Neurosurgery
Acute stroke procedures 13% of the NI Unit workload was for acute stroke procedures.
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Research publications 7 research publications were produced during this reporting period.
Dr Brendan Steinfort Consultant RNSH Neurointervention Unit
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Neurointervention Unit Annual Report 2021
Neurointervention Unit Annual Report 2021
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