With c.7.6m patients in the UK waiting for surgery following COVID, there is a need to move away from traditional pre-assessment processes to deal with the current backlogs and build resilient processes for the future.
Definition Health, partnered with the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust and the Kent Surrey Sussex Academic Health Science Network (KSS AHSN) to secure funding from SBRI Healthcare to support the rollout of its digital surgical solutions to the hospital. The primary objective was to reduce the backlog of 7,000 patients awaiting surgery and to improve the legacy pre-assessment pathway which only met the needs of 30% of patients.
The study compared the previous year’s data for the Royal Surrey County Hospital before launching Definition Health’s Lifebox pre-operative assessment solution. The study directly compared the two systems with the same number of pre-assessment appointments in both groups. All study parties were blinded to data outcomes and a report was produced and validated independently by Unity Insights on behalf of KSS AHSN. The report was also sent to NHSE as a study sponsor.
Definition Health worked with the Royal Surrey team to develop a comprehensive understanding of the existing legacy processes and re-engineer those processes to optimise a digital pathway. Definition Health provided training across the Royal Surrey team including administration, nursing staff, anaesthetists and surgeons, together with on-site guidance throughout the build-up and go-live phase of the project.
Within 4 weeks of the contract signature, Definition Health’s solutions were successfully deployed, going on to support over 750 patients per month in their surgical journeys. Over 90% of patients agreeing it is important that part of their surgical pathway can be completed in the home. To date, Definition Health’s solutions have supported over 200,000 patients across the NHS and Independent Sector.
Royal Surrey is now using the three interoperable solutions offered by Definition Health:
Definition LifeBox; a digital pre-operative assessment tool
Definition Connect; virtual consultation and secure file-sharing platform
Definition Recovery; allows the hospital to operate a post-discharge virtual ward
The independent study showed 99.5% patient compliance with the electronic pre-assessment pathway. The hospital experienced a 95% reduction in did not attend (DNA) rates from 6.3% to 0.6%, and a 34% reduction in face-to-face appointments. In addition, it was calculated there had been a 210t reduction in CO2 emissions from utilising file upload and avoiding unnecessary patient travel.
As well as the obvious patient benefits, the financial implications have been calculated as an efficiency cost-saving over 5 years for Royal Surrey of £428,000, cash-releasing savings of £132,000 and a 39% ROI. Extrapolated across the NHS Surrey Heartlands ICS shows the potential efficiency savings of £1.94 million and £480,000 over 5 years, a 40% ROI.