Abstract
Abstract Background Whilst current colorectal cancer care pathways operate by referral to local hospitals, there has been a recent drive to centralise cancer services to improve patient outcomes. Centralisation will inevitably increase trust case volume and the existing literature is inconclusive regarding a possible volume-outcome association. This study aims to investigate the association between case volume and unplanned readmission or unplanned return to theatre (URTT) rates in patients undergoing colorectal surgery across England and Wales. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted of 14028 patients across 135 trusts using the 2020 NBOCA dataset. Primary outcome measures were 30-day unplanned readmission and 30-day URTT rates. Trusts were dichotomised into low or high-volume sites. Statistical analysis used Spearman's ρ correlation, Mann-Whitney U and Student T-test. Results 11.2% (2.30–24.5) and 8.31% (0.00–23.3) of 14028 patients underwent an unplanned readmission and URTT respectively. There was no significant correlation between the number of cases and 30-day unplanned readmission (r=0.0628, 95%CI: -0.112–0.234, p=0.469), with no significant difference between low and high-volume trusts (p=0.432). Similarly, no significant correlation was found between the number of cases and 30-day URTT rate (r=-0.0848, 95%CI: -0.255–0.0904, p=0.328), with no significant difference between low and high-volume trusts (p=0.285). Conclusions No association was discovered between volume and unplanned readmission or URTT in this cohort. Increasing volume among trusts who demonstrate favourable outcomes, rather than indiscriminately increasing volume may be beneficial. This study increases our understanding of volume-outcome relationships, however further prospective studies at a national level into other outcomes should be conducted to rule out centralisation.
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