Ophthalmology National Electronic Retinal Detachment Surgery Audit: Feasibility report

The Ophthalmology National Electronic Retinal Detachment Surgery Audit feasibility study was commissioned by HQIP as part of National Ophthalmology Audit with The Royal College of Ophthalmologists as the Audit Provider.

Retinal detachment is a potentially blinding eye disease with an incidence of approximately 12 cases per 100,000 people per year. Most commonly the problem occurs as a result of a tear or hole in the sensory retina, allowing fluid to pass through the retinal break and collect beneath the retina. Retinal detachments which occur in this way are referred to as rhegmatogenous retinal detachments (RRD). The accumulating sub-retinal fluid internally peels the sensory retina away from the outer retina and choroid lining the wall of the eye. The problem is essentially a mechanical one requiring a mechanical solution, i.e. an operation. Surgery is undertaken by highly trained subspecialist vitreoretinal eye surgeons with the majority of procedures involving removal of the vitreous gel from within the eye and closure of the break through the creation of an inflammatory adhesion around it.

In this collaborative feasibility study, the British and Eire Association of Vitreoretinal Surgeons (BEAVRS) retinal detachment dataset was used for data definitions.