My Clinical Outcomes for University Hospitals Sussex

 
 
 
 

University Hospitals Sussex Using Digital PROMs as Key Part of New Enhanced Supportive Care Service

University Hospitals Sussex are using MCO as part of an Enhanced Supportive Care (ESC) project to get advanced visibility of Quality of Life data from patients who are asked to register by oncology colleagues prior to a referral to palliative care.

 

Project Video: Clinicians and management team explain the use of MCO at University Hospitals Sussex

 

Patients are asked to complete the 30-item EORTC QLQ-C30 cancer Quality of Life assessment every two weeks in MCO, with results then immediately available to both the ESC team and the patient’s referring oncology team in real-time. This provides the opportunity for the ESC team to potentially prioritise their restricted capacity and act to intervene in a patient’s care earlier than might otherwise have been possible.

Clinician’s Use of MCO at University Hospitals Sussex

University Hospitals Sussex breast oncologist, Dr Richard Simcock, explains how he uses My Clinical Outcomes with patients in the clinic in this short video.

 

Video: Dr Richard Simcock explains how he uses My Clinical Outcomes routinely to help manage his patients over the long-term

 

With the use of MCO:

  1. Patients value being able to diarise their symptoms and view their own data, tracking progress.

  2. Doctors can see instantly whether they need to check in on a patient

  3. Doctors can analyse patient data to assist with treatment and see if therapies are having a benefit.

  4. It provides system level data – for example analysis showed one of the most significant concerns was fatigue, indicating the need for new targeted support for patients.

Clinical, Quality of Life and Cost Benefits Recently Published in British Medical Journal, June 2022

One year after the introduction of MCO - collection and analysis of PROMs from patients with treatable but not curable cancers at University Hospitals Sussex - the results are now published in the British Medical Journal.

In this publication, the BMJ for the first time has reported that the combination of PROMs with supportive oncology services, could save the NHS substantial amounts of money. The results from this project demonstrate the positive impacts for patients and hospitals and clinics. Some of the key findings from this study include:

  • 5% fewer unplanned admissions with hospitals

  • Length of admissions shorter by an average of 1.43 days

  • Reduced risk of emergency admission to hospitals

In addition to this, results show a return on investment with a benefit cost ratio of 1.4 – that is, for every £1 invested in the service, £1.40 was saved per patient.

Infographic from Unity Insights Enhanced Supportive Care Summary Report: https://www.unityinsights.co.uk/our-insights/enhanced-supportive-care/

Click here to read the article: https://dx.doi.org/10.1136/spcare-2022-003716

 

Other Publications about this Project

 
 

Unity Insights Report: Enhanced Supportive Care

Real-world, mixed methods evaluations can support commissioners to make evidence-based decisions about health care services. The service provided by Unity Insights included utilising health economic modelling alongside quantitative and qualitative data collection.

Monitised benefits included:

  • Reduction in non-elective admission rate

  • Reduction in non-elective average length of stay

Other benefits included:

  • Proactive patient management of with remote PROMs

  • Earlier provision of supportive care for patients at end-of-life

Click here to read the summary report: https://www.unityinsights.co.uk/our-insights/enhanced-supportive-care/

A Short Report Examining the Introduction of Routine Use of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in a Mixed Oncology Population

In this short report, published in Clinical Oncology, it was concluded that “routine collection of electronic remote PROMs is an effective and useful strategy to provide real-time clinical feedback to teams”.

People living with treatable but not curable cancer often experience a range of symptoms related to their cancer and its treatment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face consultations were reduced and so remote monitoring of these needs was necessary. The study demonstrates that real world remote electronic PROMs collection is feasible and adds value to cancer care. It concluded that patients are “willing to consistently engage with electronic PROMs over a period of months” and that “Electronic PROMs are useful for the remote monitoring of patients living with cancer and identifying those who need urgent intervention”.

Click here to read the article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clon.2021.11.016

Digital Medicine in Men with Advanced Prostate Cancer – A Feasibility Study of Electronic Patient-reported Outcomes in Patients on Systemic Treatment

Highlights of this article includes:

  • Electronic patient-reported outcome measures can potentially improve patient care and streamline services.

  • Digital access and familiarity are lower in older groups.

  • Electronic patient-reported outcome measures are feasible in clinic but more challenging from home.

  • Strategies to support remote completion are summarised.

Click here to read the article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clon.2021.04.008

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