Finalised Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) in England - April 2010 to March 2011, Pre- and post-operative data

For the coverage period April 2010 to March 2011:

• There were 245,516 eligible¹ hospital episodes and 171,499 pre-operative questionnaires returned - a headline participation rate of 69.9 per cent, which is an increase of 3.8 percentage points compared to 2009-10.
• For the 171,499 pre-operative questionnaires returned, there were 162,614 post-operative questionnaires sent out, of which 131,696 have been returned - a return rate of 81.0 per cent ².
• 95.8 per cent of hip replacement respondents and 91.4 per cent of knee replacement respondents recorded joint related improvements following their operation as measured by their response to a series of questions about their condition (Oxford Hip and Knee Scores). These values were 95.7 per cent and 91.4 per cent respectively in the finalised data for 2009-10.
• 82.5 per cent of varicose vein respondents recorded varicose vein related improvements following their operation as measured by their response to a series of questions about their condition (Aberdeen Varicose Vein Questionnaire score). This value was 83.4 per cent in the finalised data for 2009-10.
• 86.7 per cent of hip replacement respondents and 77.9 per cent of knee replacement respondents recorded an increase in their general health following their operation, based on a combination of five key criteria concerning their general health (EQ-5D Index score), compared to 51.6 per cent for varicose veins and 50.5 per cent for groin hernias. These values were 87.2 per cent, 77.6 per cent, 52.4 per cent and 49.3 per cent respectively in the finalised data for 2009-10.
• 61.4 per cent of hip replacement respondents and 50.8 per cent of knee replacement recorded an increase in their EQ-VAS score (current state of the patient's general health marked on a visual analogue scale) compared to 39.8 per cent for varicose veins and 39.1 per cent for groin hernias. These values were 61.4 per cent, 50.2 per cent, 40.4 per cent and 38.2 per cent respectively in the finalised data for 2009-10.

Footnotes

1. An 'eligible episode' is an episode in HES in the period in question, 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 patient may have undergone more than one PROMs procedure in a single eligible episode and those episodes will have been counted here twice; this affects 73 of the 245,516 episodes.
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.