Patient surveys to be a world first for NHS

pharmafile | February 13, 2009 | News story | Sales and Marketing NHS, PROMs, hc 

Patients who have a hip replacements or varicose vein surgery on the NHS will be among the first patients to complete questionnaires on the quality of their treatment.

The surveys will be introduced in April and will make the NHS the first health system in the world to routinely collect patient-reported outcome measures or PROMs.

The government hopes the questionnaires, conducted before surgery and again around six months later, will help accelerate improvements in NHS care.

PROMs are short questionnaires, completed by patients themselves to give a snapshot of their health or quality of life, and the government expects 250,000 patients to be asked to fill out a PROMs questionnaire in 2009/10.

The ‘before and after’ questionnaires will measure quality of life and give it a numerical value or score.

In practical terms, a successful hip operation, for example, should show patients have a much better quality of life, with better mobility and reduced pain.

Health minister Lord Darzi said: “While a surgeon may judge a hip replacement successful because the procedure has been performed perfectly on the day, the patient will rightly disagree if they are still in pain and continue to have a poor quality of life six months down the line. “

The idea for introducing PROMs was first unveiled by the Darzi Review in June last year, and the surveys are intended to improve services by providing PCTs evidence on the best services to buy, based on patient experiences.

They will also enable clinical teams to benchmark their performance and research the success of different treatment options, the Department of Health says.

Patients will also be able to choose a hospital that achieves the best results for the operation they need, it adds.

The new PROMs guidance gives details of the questionnaires as well as the responsibilities of the organisations involved.

PCT commissioners and providers have been told that a response rate to the survey of 80% is needed to make it representative, though the DH has acknowledged this will be difficult in some circumstances.

A contractor will collect the pre-operative data and administer the post-operative questionnaires.

All patients undergoing hip replacements, knee replacements, groin hernia surgery and varicose vein surgery will be asked to fill out forms from April, with a view to expanding it into other areas of care.

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