title: A national census of central neuraxial block in the UK: results of the snapshot phase of the Third National Audit Project of the Royal College of Anaesthetists.
abstract: The first stage of the Royal College of Anaesthetists Third National Audit Project to assess the incidence of major complications of central neuraxial block in the UK was a 2-week national census of block use. A reporting system was established in the 309 National Health Service hospitals believed to undertake surgical work and data were received from 304, a response rate of 98.7%. Over 90% of these were judged by the reporters to be 'accurate'. The total number of procedures reported as being performed in the 2-week period was 27,533: extrapolation using a multiplier of 25 suggests that nearly 700,000 major blocks are performed annually (315,000 spinals, 287,000 cervical, thoracic or lumbar epidurals, 42,000 combined spinal-epidurals and 56,000 caudal epidurals). After the second stage of the project, which will record complications from the same hospitals over a 12-month period, these data will be used as denominators to calculate the incidences of complications.
authors.affiliation: Royal United Hospital, Bath, UK. tcook@rcoa.ac.uk
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mihai
authors.forename: J A W
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Wildsmith
mesh_terms: D015360:Analgesia, Epidural / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000767:Anesthesia, Epidural / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000773:Anesthesia, Obstetrical / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000775:Anesthesia, Spinal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008485:Medical Audit; D009407:Nerve Block / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012955:Societies, Medical; D013222:State Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006113:United Kingdom