National Lines Survey
UK members may remember that pre-COVID there was a national survey led by Paul Farrelly and the Paediatric Surgical Trainees Network on various aspects of Central Venous Line access. This was a snapshot of current activity and achieved returns from 19 UK paediatric surgical units. Two abstracts from the study were presented at 2023 BAPS in Bruges and are reproduced in full in the Research part of our website. Takeaway messages, for me, were that only a minority of centres (6/19) seemed to have a dedicated vascular access team and percutaneous US-guided access was 1st choice in many units but apparently not in all and it seemed dependent on weight. In the other abstract on ideal central line tip position – while virtually all aimed for an SVC /Right atrial position the anatomical and radiological landmarks to confirm this were very variable. Indeed there is no nationally endorsed recommendation – perhaps there needs to be.