Surgical Complaints (Amended) - FOI Response Register

I am a medical student at the University of Edinburgh, conducting research on risk-taking behaviours in surgical specialties. The purpose of this is to understand the level of risk-taking across several surgical specialties, how risk is perceived, and how it is managed. The results of this audit will help identify areas for improvement in the training and education of future surgeons, and may also contribute to the development of best practices in the field.

As a result, I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. I am seeking information about the number of complaints received by your hospital trust in the past five years for the following specialties: neurosurgery, orthopaedic surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, and vascular surgery.

1. Specifically, I would like to request the following information for each specialty:

The total number of complaints received for each specialty in each of the past five years;

The nature of the complaint;

The outcome of the complaint, including any actions taken by the hospital trust to address the issue.

Nil

2. Number of operations performed in the past five calendar years for the following specialties: neurosurgery, orthopaedic surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, and vascular surgery;

NHS Shetland has occasional visiting surgeon who will perform orthopaedic procedures, as per low numbers in the table. However, our general surgical team will frequently pick up patients who at a larger board would be cared for by an orthopaedic team. Patients whose procedure is not suitable for the local general surgical team will be referred onwards to another Board, most frequently Grampian or the National Waiting Times Board.

You'll also see a much larger number of procedures for 2022. This was because an orthopaedic team came to Shetland to perform (almost exclusively) joint replacement procedures and stayed for three months not only for the benefit of Shetland patients, but also for Orkney. The data quoted includes both boards.

3. Number of reportable / recordable patient safety incidents in the past five calendar years for the following specialties: neurosurgery, orthopaedic surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, and vascular surgery

Breakdown by incident category (if available);

We do not undertake these specialist surgeries in Shetland with the exception of an occasional visiting surgeon who will perform orthopaedic procedures and whilst we had the Vanguard clinic in place and there were specialist teams who came here to undertake orthopaedic surgery.

Orthopaedic Surgery: Nil

Neurosurgery, Cardiothoracic Surgery, and Vascular Surgery: N/A