Annex A > Chapter 10 - Outreach Cardiology Clinics > Introduction

Introduction

1 This chapter addresses the organisation of peripheral, or outreach, cardiology clinics run by the Bristol cardiologists in the UBH/T catchment area. It is closely related to Chapter 11 - Referrals which deals with referrals to Bristol. It begins that section of this Annex in which the evidence is set out which traces the path of a child needing heart surgery from first identification, at an outreach clinic, or by a paediatrician in a district hospital, through first contact with the Bristol hospitals, pre-operative assessment and care, surgery, surgical management of care (which is of much wider scope than events on the operating table itself), post-operative care, to counselling and, in the event of a child's death, bereavement services.

2 Communication is a theme that runs through all the chapters which follow: between Bristol doctors and local doctors, between Bristol doctors and parents, and between the doctors in Bristol themselves.

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