Provisional Monthly Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) in England - April 2015 to July 2015

For the coverage period 1 April 2015 to 31 July 2015.

Participation and Coverage

• There have been 88,978 PROMs-eligible procedures carried out in hospitals¹ and 64,732 pre-operative questionnaires returned so far, a headline participation rate of 72.8 per cent (76.2 per cent for 2013-14).
• For the 64,732 pre-operative questionnaires returned, 16,584 post-operative questionnaires were sent out², of which 3,928 have been returned so far - a return rate of 23.7 per cent³ (73.6 per cent for 2013-14).

Unadjusted Scores

Comparing pre- and post-operative 'EQ-5D Index' scores (a combination of five key criteria concerning patients' self-reported general health), an increase in general health was recorded for:

• 49.4 per cent of groin hernia respondents (49.7 per cent for 2013-14)
• [Insufficient data for hip replacement⁴.]
• [Insufficient data for knee replacement⁴.]
• 53.5 per cent of varicose vein respondents (51.8 per cent for 2013-14)

Comparing pre- and post-operative 'EQ-VAS' values (the current state of the patient's self-reported general health), an increase in general health was recorded for:

• 36.2 per cent of groin hernia respondents (37.3 per cent for 2013-14)
• [Insufficient data for hip replacement⁴.]
• [Insufficient data for knee replacement⁴.]
• 38.0 per cent of varicose vein respondents (39.9 per cent for 2013-14)

Comparing pre- and post-operative responses to condition-specific questions, improvements in patients' conditions were recorded for:

• [There is no condition-specific scoring for groin hernia patients.]
• [Insufficient data for hip replacement⁴.]
• [Insufficient data for knee replacement⁴.]
• 83.5 per cent of varicose vein respondents (82.9 per cent for 2013-14) ['Aberdeen Varicose Vein Questionnaire']

Footnotes

1. An 'eligible procedure' is counted for each episode in HES in the period in question which has been clinically coded with relevant hip, knee, varicose vein or groin hernia OPCS procedure codes which make it suitable for inclusion in PROMs. Some patients may have undergone more than one PROMs procedure in a single eligible episode, hence there will be more procedures than episodes: this is the case for 24 of the 88,978 procedures.
2. Not every pre-operative questionnaire will have a post-operative questionnaire sent out, for various reasons including the cancellation of an operation or the death of the patient.
3. This will be an underestimate of the true rate due to the time delay in returning post-operative questionnaires.
4. Due to the length of time before post-operative questionnaires are sent out for hip and knee replacements, there are not yet sufficient data to calculate unadjusted scores for these procedures.