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Overview of PROMs at HCA Healthcare UK
Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) are clinically-validated assessments that record the impact of a condition on a patient’s life at a point in time, for example, the degree of pain, ability to function normally, and overall quality of life.
Capturing and tracking PROMs before and after treatment allows:
- Patients to understand the benefits or otherwise of treatment
- Clinicians to monitor progress to inform ongoing care
Analysing PROMs data collected from patients helps HCA Healthcare UK to ensure the highest standards of care is being delivered to all patients.
“Patient-reported outcomes are integral to the care we offer at HCA Healthcare UK. Health care that works responsively to a patient’s lived experience, that adapts to their needs, is a system that truly has the patient at the centre.”
Furthermore, as well as being useful within HCA Healthcare UK we are required to submit anonymised (de-identified) PROMs data on some surgical procedures to the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN). PHIN make comparisons between private healthcare hospitals and publish data about clinical quality and patient satisfaction to help patients make more informed choices.
Elective surgical procedures for which we submit data to PHIN are:
- Hip replacement
- Knee replacement
- Shoulder replacement
- Carpal tunnel (wrist) surgery
- Transurethral Resection of the Prostate (TURP)
- Cataract surgery
- Nasal septoplasty
We also send data about the following cosmetic procedures to PHIN:
- Augmentation mammoplasty (breast enhancement)
- Abdominoplasty (tummy tuck)
- Blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery)
- Liposuction
- Rhinoplasty (nose reshaping)
Introduction to My Clinical Outcomes
HCA Healthcare UK is partnering with My Clinical Outcomes (MCO) to manage the PROMs programme.
MCO is a web-based platform for collecting and analysing Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) in routine clinical practice. The platform was originally developed by UK doctors in 2011 and has been in clinical use ever since, with over 150,000 patients registered having used the platform with over 1,000 clinicians at over 200 UK NHS and private hospitals.
MCO has worked in partnership with HCA Healthcare UK to develop a bespoke version of the platform specifically for patients undergoing treatment at HCA Healthcare UK hospitals and clinics.
The number of conditions and treatments for which PROMs data is being collected is increasing over time and you will be notified and given more information if your clinical team is taking part.
MCO operates to the highest standards of information security. As well as being fully General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliant, MCO maintains ISO27001 accreditation for information security management with systems and processes audited annually by the British Standards Institute. MCO has Cyber Essential Plus certification and the platform is penetration-tested at least annually by CREST-accredited specialists.
The platform is web-based so can be accessed on all modern devices and browsers, including smartphones and tablets.
How it works
Eligible patients will be sent an email from hcauk@myclinicaloutcomes.com to access the MCO platform. This will usually happen after the first consultation but before treatment starts, however it may be at any stage of diagnosis, treatment or follow-up.
The first time patients access the MCO platform, they must verify their identity for information security reasons and can then activate their account. This involves clicking on a button within the email sent by MCO, confirming some details and setting a password. This process will only need to be completed once. Thereafter the tailored PROMs assessment is available to complete, with results available through a personal dashboard that can then be accessed at any time.
Results and outcomes
As well as showing the latest results, and any previous results and progress, the patient dashboard shows when the next assessment prompt will be sent. Patients will receive an email +/- text message reminder when their next assessment is due. The aim of the system is to capture data regularly and build up a picture over time, rather than capturing every change on a daily or weekly basis. However, it is possible to take further assessments in between the regular automated requests if helpful.
Results are immediately available to HCA Healthcare UK teams, although teams vary in how exactly the information is used. While some use the information to plan ongoing appointments, others will use the information in the context of other clinical results and information in the consultation itself.
PROMs results will not be used in isolation to plan your care. The information will not replace your usual care and taking part is not mandatory for patients. Please contact your doctor directly if you have any concerns regarding your health.
FAQs
The platform can be accessed at My Clinical Outcomes.
Please note, the platform can only be accessed by patients who have received an invite email and activated their account.
Please note that HCA Healthcare UK is not collecting PROMs for all conditions and treatments – you can see below for more details.
If you are expecting an email from MCO but cannot find this, please also check your spam email folders. If you are still unable to find the email, please visit My Clinical Outcomes enter your email and follow the instructions.
The MCO helpdesk team can be contacted through the “Contact us” tab or link on the platform. Alternatively email the MCO helpdesk.
While PHIN only require the collection of PROMs for certain procedures, HCA Healthcare UK are using MCO to collect PROMs much more broadly. Please note, you will only receive an invite if you are having an eligible procedure and have given consent to be contacted for the collection of PROMs.
(If you have previously opted out of PROMs collection and would now like to opt in, please contact us on 02045717460 (option 1) and we will assist in making this possible).
The automated schedule varies and has been tailored to each condition to be as clinically useful as possible while not over-burdening patients to provider data that is unlikely to be useful. In some cases, the frequency of prompts also changes according to the stage of treatment but it is not usually more frequent than once a month.
In most cases, prompts will continue to be sent periodically beyond the completion of initial treatment and follow-up as tracking long-term progress can be useful to inform any future need for clinical review.
Automated prompts can be switched off in the settings page, which is accessible from the dashboard.
HCA Healthcare UK have worked in partnership with MCO to tailor the system to be as useful and usable as possible, however taking part is not mandatory and your care will not be affected if you choose not to take part.