Provisional Monthly Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) in England - April 2011 to March 2012, Pre- and post-operative data, February 2013 release

For the coverage period 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012:

Participation and Coverage

• There were 247,702 PROMs-eligible procedures carried out in hospitals¹; 184,786 pre-operative questionnaires returned so far, a headline participation rate of 74.6 per cent (69.9 per cent for 2010-11).
• For the 184,786 pre-operative questionnaires returned, 174,328 post-operative questionnaires were sent out², of which 130,592 have been returned so far - a return rate of 74.9 per cent³ (81.0 per cent for 2010-11).

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:

• 49.8 per cent of groin hernia respondents (50.5 per cent for 2010-11)
• 87.4 per cent of hip replacement respondents (86.7 per cent for 2010-11)
• 78.4 per cent of knee replacement respondents (77.9 per cent for 2010-11)
• 53.2 per cent of varicose vein respondents (51.6 per cent for 2010-11)

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:

• 38.8 per cent of groin hernia respondents (39.1 per cent for 2010-11)
• 63.7 per cent of hip replacement respondents (61.4 per cent for 2010-11)
• 53.7 per cent of knee replacement respondents (50.8 per cent for 2010-11)
• 42.0 per cent of varicose vein respondents (39.8 per cent for 2010-11)

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

• [There is no condition-specific scoring for groin hernia patients.]
• 95.8 per cent of hip replacement respondents (95.8 per cent for 2010-11) ['Oxford Hip Score']
• 91.6 per cent of knee replacement respondents (91.4 per cent for 2010-11) ['Oxford Knee Score']
• 83.1 per cent of varicose vein respondents (82.5 per cent for 2010-11) ['Aberdeen Varicose Vein Questionnaire']

Methodology Change

Figures published in December 2012 and subsequently may differ slightly from previous figures in part because of a change in methodology. Please see the Methodology Change Note for more details.

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 into PROMs. Note that 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 56 of the 247,702 procedures.
2. Not every pre-operative questionnaire will have a post-operative questionnaire sent out. This may be for a number of 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.