New NHS acute Aortic Dissection SOP endorsed by national patient charity at Oxford launch
Posted on 1st March 2024
Oxford: NHS England SW and SE regions today launch a new Supra-regional Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for acute Aortic Dissection. This is first regional SOP in the UK to achieve endorsement from national patient charity Aortic Dissection Awareness UK & Ireland and the THINK AORTA campaign.
Download the new Acute Aortic Dissection SOP for Southern England here
The supra-regional initiative, involving a multi-disciplinary team from six acute hospital Trusts providing Aortic services in Bristol, Oxford, Plymouth, Southampton and Brighton, will improve the Aortic Dissection care available for a population of almost 15 million people across the south of England.
The team is led by Consultant Vascular Surgeon, Mr. Marcus Brooks from Bristol and Consultant Cardiac Surgeon, Mr. Jonathan Hyde from Plymouth, with Consultant Cardiac Surgeon, Prof. George Krasopolous acting as co-ordinating editor for the new Standard Operating Procedure that hospital and ambulance Trusts must now follow.
Aortic dissection survivors Prof. Rob Sneyd and Mr. Gareth Owens from the national patient charity were integrated into the team led by Mr. Brooks and Mr. Hyde from the outset, to ensure that the voice of patients was heard and that their needs and concerns were taken into account. The charity was also represented by its two Medical Advisors, Dr. Emma Redfern (Emergency Medicine) from Bristol and Mr. Geoff Tsang (Cardiothoracic Surgery) from Southampton.
Mr. Owens said "The national patient charity is pleased to endorse the excellent work done by this team, using the NHS England Acute Aortic Dissection Toolkit to produce the new Supra-regional SOP. The toolkit was developed as a result of patient demand for better and more consistent care across the NHS Regions. It's great to see it being implemented so effectively by clinicians in two NHS Regions with a combined population of some 15 million people. I am certain that patients at the most vulnerable time in their lives, when they experience an acute Aortic Dissection, will benefit as care and services are re-aligned to follow this SOP."
The national patient charity Aortic Dissection Awareness UK & Ireland provided the patient voice on the national Working Group that developed the NHS England Acute Aortic Dissection Toolkit. The charity is now asking NHS England for visibility of regional and national data to demonstrate how care is improving, as regions implement the toolkit principles.
Photos: Mr. Marcus Brooks (left), led the team. Prof. Rob Sneyd (right), represented the patient voice.
