Health minister discusses programme to improve Proms

Health minister Lord Ara Darzi has discussed a new programme that aims to review the success of operations based on patients’ feedback.

The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) and London School of Hygeine & Tropical Medicine have been contracted to improve the use of patient reported outcome measures (Proms).

Developing new ways of analysing the data, publishing results in a more effective manner and comparing cost effectiveness of treatments will be among the areas examined.

Lord Darzi explained the work will be vital to provide details to primary care trusts showing how they can buy the best services based on how patients rate their treatment.

He added it is the first scheme of its kind in the world and will provide the public with details so they can choose a hospital that delivers the best results for the operation they require.

“While a surgeon may deem a hip replacement successful because the procedure has been performed perfectly on the day, the patient will rightly disagree if they are still in pain and continue to have a poor quality of life some months down the line,” Lord Darzi remarked.

The RCS aims to enable surgeons to achieve the highest standards of medical practice and patient care.