Croydon neurology: developing acute neurology services- 9 year data of our model

<h3></h3> Croydon University Hospital is a district general hospital serving a population of 380,000. We have been trying to progressively improve our acute neurology services and present key features from our latest 9 year data with previous publication of others - the vital role specialist neurology nurses play in triaging patients, a GP Helpline and a post discharge nurse led early telephone follow up service. The number of referrals rose from an average of 60/month in 2015 to 155/month in 2019; remaining stable since (7-8/working day). Patients are seen much quicker - 60% seen on same day in 2015, 85% in 2023.In an attempt to reduce admissions, we have increased the percentage of patients seen in acute settings eg Emergency Department/Same Day Emergency Care from 11% in 2019 to 37% in 2023. A recent 3 month analysis found the average number of referrals was 45/month on Mondays and 31 on Tuesdays to Fridays necessitating extra consultant input on Mondays. The development of acute neurology services nationally is obviously vital. We feel our service is clinically effective at relatively low cost. We hope features of our model will be of interest to wider audiences.