Trends and implications of 24/7 interventional radiology in a newly opened acute hospital

Abstract

Introduction: We aim to evaluate the frequency of use and changing practices for all out-of-hours interventional radiology (IR) procedures performed in a new hospital. Methods: This is a 5 year retrospective review of all out-of-hours procedures performed by the Interventional Radiology team from July 2010 to June 2015. Number and category of procedures performed were identified from the RIS database. Results: Of the 7140 procedures performed by IR over the 5 years, 764 were out-of-hours. The total number of out-of-hours cases performed annually by IR has increased by 240% from year 1 to year 5. The variety and distribution of out-of-hours work has shown a characteristic trend with rising requests for advanced procedures such as active haemorrhage control. Conclusion: The rising number and complexity of cases for on-call IR further supports the need for a formal on-call rota, ideally 1:6, to provide a sustainable 24/7 service and optimize patient outcome in an acute hospital.