{
  "abstract": "Background Hospital care for most neurological patients occurs in district general hospitals (DGHs). Neurologists require quality-assured neuroimaging reporting to look after neurological patients in their local hospitals. The COVID-19 pandemic displaced our DGH weekly neuroradiology meeting to an e-mail service. We sought to determine how an email service compared with in-person meetings for second opinion neuroradiology.Methods Among neurology-selected patients, neuroradiological discrepancies were compared between face-to-face (f2f) meetings and an e-mail service.Results Among 734 consecutively selected patients over six years of study there were no statistically significant differences in outcomes – frequency of clinically unimportant discrepancies (10.3% email versus 12.8% f2f, p=0.300) or frequency of clinically important discrepancies (16.0% email versus 15.6% f2f, p=0.889). Amongst all imaged patients (both selected and non-selected patients for a second opinion from neuroradiology) assessed by a neurologist, clinically important discrepancies were identified in 4.2% (95%CI 3.5% – 5.0%), with very little annual variation (chi square for trend, p=0.156).Conclusion This study showed that DGH general radiology provides good quality reporting of neuroimaging and neurologists provide a pivotal role in identifying patients who require neuroradiology second opinions. An e-mail service during the COVID-19 pandemic maintained quality-assured neuroimaging reports in a DGH.Marymccullagh93@gmail.com",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Altnagelvin Hospital"
      ],
      "name": "McCullagh Mary"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Altnagelvin Hospital"
      ],
      "name": "McVerry Ferghal"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Royal Victoria Hospital"
      ],
      "name": "Flynn Peter"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Altnagelvin Hospital"
      ],
      "name": "MacKenzie Niall"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Altnagelvin Hospital"
      ],
      "name": "Thompson Gillian"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Altnagelvin Hospital"
      ],
      "name": "McCarron Mark O"
    }
  ],
  "title": "90 A neuroradiology e-mail service for a district general hospital in the COVID-19 era",
  "uid": "195ebf1a-8e4b-5346-bd53-baa10719ba7a"
}