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Introduction

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 Introduction

• Peripheral arterial disease

– Affects 20% adults in Europe and North America
– In the UK 500-1000/million PAD, 1-2% require amputation
– LLA 8-15% in people with diabetes with up to 70% dying <5 years of
surgery

• Hospital inpatient data - 5,498 FCE (2009/10), & 530

deaths in England alone

• Previous reports indicate mortality is high

reflecting age and comorbidites

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 Introduction

• Wide geographic variation in the number of

amputations carried out

• Peri-operative cardiac complications are the leading

cause of morbidity & mortality following surgery

• Previous guidelines
– VSGBI
– Diabetes UK
– BACPAR

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 Aim

To explore remediable factors in the process of

care of patients undergoing major lower limb
amputation

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 Objectives

• Pre-operative care
– Access to multidisciplinary teams and a multiprofessional pathway of
care
– Pain management
– Clinical care of the patient
– Optimisation of comorbidities, including diabetic control

• Peri-operative care
– The scheduling of surgery, including priority and cancellations
– Seniority of clinicians (surgery and anaesthesia)
– Operation undertaken
– Antibiotic prophylaxis, venous thromboembolism prophylaxis
– Diabetes control
– Anaesthetic care

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 Objectives

• Post operative care

– Access to critical care
– Diabetes control
– Pain management
– Wound care
– Rehabilitation

• Organisational factors
– Hub & spoke arrangements
– Management of diabetic foot sepsis including multidisciplinary care
– Access to surgery
– Availability of rehabilitation and prosthetic services
– Submission of data to the NVD (NVR)

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 Objectives

• Hospital participation
– Organisational data
– Clinical data

• Study population
– 6 month data collection period
– OPCS codes – amputation of leg or operations on amputation stump
– ICD10 codes – diseases of the circulatory system or diabetes

• Case identification
– Local reporters identified all cases
– 7 cases per hospital/3 per clinician

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 Method

• Questionnaires
– Organisational
– Clinical
– Advisor assessment form
– Therapy assessment form

• Case notes
– Medical notes from admission to discharge
– MDT notes
– Imaging reports
– Consent forms
– Operation notes (including anaesthetic records)
– Nursing notes
– Rehabilitation (including physiotherapy) notes
– Drug charts

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Data returns

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Patient overview

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Reason for admission

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Admission category

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Organisation of care

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Pre-operative care

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Pathway for admission

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Admitting ward

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First consultant review

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First consultant review

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Co-morbidities

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 Co-morbidities

• In 123/138 patients an adequate attempt to

control co-morbidities was made
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Pre-operative medical review

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Peri-operative care

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Consultant vascular surgeon review

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Consultant vascular surgeon review

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Vascular surgeon review

1:4 emergency admissions not seen within 72h

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Indication for amputation

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Angiography and duplex ultrasound

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Inadequate assessment of limb

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Time from assessment to operation

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Delay between assessment and surgery

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Limb salvage prior to amputation

Advisors: appropriate in a further 22 (7.7%) patients

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 MDT

(Organisational data)

58/140 (41%) had no MDT for amputees

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 MDT discussion

40% discussed: Centralisation should = dedicated MDT

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Pre-operative support services

349 diabetics

Potential impact on post-op recovery, rehab & discharge 35

Overall assessment of pre-operative care

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Overall assessment of pre-operative care

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Consent

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Consent

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Consent: Poor or unacceptable information

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Pre-operative investigations

Advisors considered work-up adequate in 92.6%

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 Prophylactic antibiotics

Organisational data: 131/137 (96%) had a protocol for prophylaxis

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 MRSA screening

85% screened: 96% units screen routinely (Organisational data)

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Urgency of surgery and type of theatre

57% emergency theatre

QIF >75% elective

n = 333 n = 251

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Time to operation

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Time to operation

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Impact of the delay

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Duration of the delay

Significant delay in 118/617 (19%) patients

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Reasons for delay in surgery

64 beyond surgeon’s control

52 organisational or because
using CEPOD theatre

*Transfer, W/E
Critical care bed
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Pre-operative anaesthetic review

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Pre-operative anaesthetic review

Surgery: consultant present for 85% cases

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Anaesthetic care

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Methods of anaesthesia

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The operation

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Type of amputation performed

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Seniority of surgeon operating and in theatre

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 Grade of surgeon

48/533 patients booked & cancelled at least once

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Appropriate procedure undertaken

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Reason for inappropriate surgery

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Intra- and post operative monitoring

42 immediate post-op complications

10 = bleeding
10 = cardiac
6 = hypotension

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Post operative
surgical care

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Post operative destination and outcome

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Escalation of care

2 delayed, 5 not transferred

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Escalation of care

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Escalation of care

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Stump complications

164/437 (37%) had a complication

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Stump complications

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Stump complications

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Post operative
medical care

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Post operative complications

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 Post operative complications

Frequent occurrence:
•249/529 (47.1%) Advisor reviewed cases
•290/628 (46.2%) Clinical questionnaire

•Medical twice as common as stump related

complications

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 Post operative physician review

• 319/529 (59.2%) patients reviewed by at least one

non-surgical specialist (excludes microbiology)

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 Post operative physician review

No relationship between:
•Complications and physician review
•Kidney failure and renal medicine review
•Myocardial infarction/arrhythmia and cardiology review

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 Physician involvement

• Pre operative 39.7%

• Post operative 59.2%
• Whole pathway 66.1%

Recommendation:
Model of medical care that includes regular review by physician
and surgeon throughout the in-patient stay.

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Rehabilitation and
discharge

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 Co-ordination of care

• Complex patients
• Mobility changes admission to discharge
• Planning and care co-ordination important

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Early planning of rehabilitation

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Early planning of rehabilitation

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Pre-operative discharge planning

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Named individual available

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 Rehabilitation

• 91/409 (22.2%) cases additional review appropriate

Most common omissions:
• Psychology 38
• Amputee rehabilitation 33
• Foot care team 21
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Post-operative physiotherapy

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 Physiotherapy

• 78/126 (62.4%) not suitable for early walking aids

• 36 cases where use delayed inappropriately
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Falls risk assessment

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 Falls

Adverse consequences (Advisors):

•Eleven stump complications – 3 required further surgery
•One fracture
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 Prosthetic services

• 124/169 hospitals formal arrangements for referral to prosthetics

• When prosthetics not available on site average distance 21 miles (<1– 100)
• Referral generally by combination of medical staff and physiotherapists

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Prosthetics

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Overall quality of rehabilitation

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Discharge planning

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Discharge planning

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Care beyond the acute hospital

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Discharge from hospital

57.3%
25.3%
12.4%
5%

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Delayed discharge

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 Delayed discharge

• Overall 75 cases of delay for non-medical reasons

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Diabetes care

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 Diabetes care

• 349/628 patients diabetes (55.6%)

• Age 68 (no diabetes, 71)

• “Complex” diabetes
– 75/349 (21.5%) type 1 diabetes
– Population 10% type 1 diabetes

– 183/313 (58.5%) on insulin

– Population 40% diabetic patients on insulin

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 Pre-operative review

• 73/132 (55.3%) hospitals performing amputations,

policy of routine review by diabetes specialist nurse
(DNS)

• 160/274 (58.4%) pre-op review by DNS

• 123/217 (56.7%) peer reviewed cases advice given by

diabetes team on blood sugar control

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 Insulin use and DNS review

Advisors’ view
•All patients would benefit from DNS review pre-op
•Review by diabetologist would potentially improve care and optimise co-
morbidity

•Only 31 cases (9%) had surgery on day of admission

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Insulin infusions - hypoglycaemia

• 173/278 (62.2%) patients received insulin infusion

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Insulin infusions - management

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 Glycaemic control

• Poor or unacceptable at some point in pathway in at least 26.7% of cases

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Diabetes treatments

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Diabetes prescribing

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Diabetes prescribing

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Outcomes and diabetes

Complications:
(Clinical Questionnaire)
No differences:

•Individual complications
•Infections
•Cardiovascular

30 day mortality:
•Diabetes 11.6%
•No diabetes 13.3%

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Diabetes care

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Outcomes

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 Outcomes at 30 days

2009 VSGBI AGM: mortality 17% HES, 9% NVD

2010 VSGBI QIF: mortality <5% by 2015
407/622
65.4%

138/622
22.2%
77/622
12.4%

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Outcome by mode of admission

>

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Morbidity & mortality meetings

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 VSGBI QIF
Pre-operative aspects of care

Implemented The decision with the patient to perform amputation should be

timed and recorded in the notes
Controllable risk factors should be optimised
Antithrombotic prophylaxis should be prescribed and continued
at least until discharge from hospital

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 VSGBI QIF
Pre-operative aspects of care

Implemented The decision with the patient to perform amputation should be

timed and recorded in the notes
Controllable risk factors should be optimised
Antithrombotic prophylaxis should be prescribed and continued
at least until discharge from hospital

Not implemented Pain should be controlled, and the pain team involved if needed
Patients should be assessed and managed by specialist MDT
A named individual (identified pre-op) should be responsible for
each patient (co-ordinate care, rehab and discharge planning)

All patients should have formal risk assessment by, or in

consultation with a consultant anaesthetist
Discharge planning and rehabilitation should be considered pre-
operatively, and review by the rehabilitation team encouraged
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 VSGBI QIF
Peri-operative aspects of care

Implemented Anaesthesia should be given by a senior anaesthetist (post

FRCA); a trainee should have consultant supervision available
Amputation should only be undertaken in a facility with ready
access to blood products and access to level III critical care
All patients to have antibiotic prophylaxis, type of antibiotic
according to local policy

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 VSGBI QIF
Peri-operative aspects of care

Implemented Anaesthesia should be given by a senior anaesthetist (post

FRCA); a trainee should have consultant supervision available
Amputation should only be undertaken in a facility with ready
access to blood products and access to level III critical care
All patients to have antibiotic prophylaxis, type of antibiotic
according to local policy

Not implemented Operation should be undertaken on a planned operating list in

normal working hours (target 75% of all major amputations)
Patients not on a planned list should have surgery within 48h of
decision to operate and no patient should be deferred more
than once (unless new medical contraindications)
Aim to undertake below knee amputation (BKA) wherever
appropriate and have below knee: above knee ratio > 1

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 VSGBI QIF
Post-operative aspects of care

Implemented Amputation should be undertaken in a unit with 24/7 network

or local vascular cover, with access to multi-professional
support (cardiac, renal, respiratory, diabetes)

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 VSGBI QIF
Post-operative aspects of care

Implemented Amputation should be undertaken in a unit with 24/7 network

or local vascular cover, with access to multi-professional
support (cardiac, renal, respiratory, diabetes)

Not implemented There should be a formal pain management protocol, and

access to an acute pain team
There should be prompt access to a local amputee rehab team
including early mobilisation and physiotherapy
There should be continued discharge planning home, or to an
appropriate facility
There should be formal referral to a specialist rehabilitation
team (prosthetics)
Optimal medical management and health education should be
completed before discharge

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Overall assessment of care

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 Principal recommendations

Best practice clinical care pathway to support QIF

A ‘best practice’ clinical care pathway, supporting the aims of the Vascular Society’s
Quality Improvement Framework for Major Amputation Surgery, and covering all
aspects of the management of patients requiring amputation should be developed.

This should include protocols for transfer, the development of a dedicated

multidisciplinary team (MDT) for care planning of amputees and access to other
medical specialists and health professionals both pre- and post operatively to reflect
the standards of the Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland, the British
Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Amputee Rehabilitation and the British
Society of Rehabilitation Medicine.

It should promote greater use of dedicated vascular lists for surgery and the use of
multidisciplinary records.

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 Principal recommendations

Diabetics should be reviewed by specialist diabetes

team both pre- and post-operatively

All patients with diabetes undergoing lower limb amputation should be

reviewed both pre- and post operatively by the specialist diabetes team to
optimise control of diabetes and management of co-morbidities.

The pre-operative review should not delay the operation in patients requiring
emergency surgery.

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 Principal recommendations

Vascular review within 24 hours if admitted under

another specialty

When patients are admitted to hospital as an emergency with limb-

threatening ischaemia, including acute diabetic foot problems, they should
be assessed by a relevant consultant within 12 hours of the decision to admit
or a maximum of 14 hours from the time of arrival at the hospital, in line with
current guidance.

If this is not a consultant vascular surgeon then one should be asked to

review the patient within 24 hours of admission.

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 Principal recommendations

Commence planning for rehabilitation and discharge as

early as possible

For patients undergoing major limb amputation, planning for rehabilitation

and subsequent discharge should commence as soon as the requirement for
amputation is identified.

All patients should have access to a suitably qualified amputation/discharge

co-ordinator.

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 Principal recommendations

Surgery on planned operating lists within 48 hours

As recommended in the Quality Improvement Framework for Major

Amputation Surgery (VSGBI), amputations should be done on a planned
operating list during normal working hours and within 48 hours of the
decision to operate.

Any case waiting longer than this should be the subject of local case review to
identify reasons for delay and improve subsequent organisation of care.

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www.ncepod.org.uk
@ncepod

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