NICE guidance and current practise of recurrent and bilateral groin XXXX repair by Scottish surgeons.

@entity169 @entity547
BACKGROUND: NICE (National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence) in England recommended laparoscopic repair for recurrent and bilateral groin hernias in 2004. The aims of this survey were to evaluate the current practise of bilateral and recurrent @entity169 surgery in Scotland and surgeons' views on the perceived need for training in @entity169 ( @entity169 ). METHODS: A postal questionnaire was sent to Scottish consultant surgeons included in the Scottish Audit of Surgical Audit database 2007, asking about their current practice of primary, recurrent and @entity169 surgery. A response was considered valid if the surgeon performed groin @entity547 surgery; further analysis was based on this group. Those who did not offer @entity169 were asked to comment on the possible reasons, and also the perceived need for training in laparoscopic @entity547 surgery. Only valid responses were stored on Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, USA) and analysed with SPSS software version 13.0 (SPSS, Chicago, Illinois). RESULTS: Postal questionnaires were sent to 301 surgeons and the overall all response rate was 174/301 (57.8%). A valid response was received from 124 of 174 (71.2%) surgeons and analysed further. Open Lichtenstein's repair seems to be the most common @entity169 . Laparoscopic surgery was not performed for 26.6 and 31.5% of recurrent and @entity169 , respectively. About 15% of surgeons replied that an @entity169 service was not available in their base hospital. Lack of training, financial constraints, and insufficient evidence were thought to be the main reasons for low uptake of @entity169 . About 80% of respondents wished to attend hands-on training in @entity547 surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Current practice by Scottish surgeons showed that one in three surgeons did not offer @entity169 for bilateral and recurrent @entity169 as recommended by NICE. There is a clear need for training in @entity169 .
