Neuroscience day unit admissions: a single centre retrospective study

<h3>Introduction</h3> Neuroscience day unit admissions may serve as a proxy for the delivery of subpecialist neurology care. Understanding which patients are admitted may help identify inequalities in access to specialist care and better understand care pathways to assist service planning. <h3>Methods</h3> We collated Secondary User Service data on adult patients from South West London and Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Systems who had elective day care admissions under neurology at any trust between April 2022 to March 2023. We analysed the demographics and clinical characteristics of these patients both locally and with respect to our sector. <h3>Results</h3> There were 6,218 day case spells among 2,083 patients. Treatment for multiple sclerosis and inflammatory disorders (28%), headaches and migraine (22%) and peripheral nerve disorders (7%) were the most common indications for admission. 25% of patients were admitted to centres outside the sector and they were more likely to be older, have a higher index of multiple deprivation (less deprived) or white (p&lt;0.05). <h3>Conclusions</h3> The reasons why a relatively high proportion of patients receive subspecialist care outside their sector are likely multifactorial and have important implications for the planning and provision of population-based neurological services, particularly with increasing emphasis on system-level commissioning of services.