Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, with stakeholders, has established a project to support a reduction in the amount of time and number of visits patients make to the pre operative assessment clinic, while also aiming to help clinicians get as much information as possible about a patient’s health and condition in advance of surgery.
An electronic online questionnaire was developed by clinicians to enable patients to answer questions about their health before surgery. Questions were designed to get the maximum amount of information as possible and be consistent with a face to face nursing assessment.
Computers were set up in the pre-operative assessment areas to allow patients direct access following decision for surgery. All questionnaires are reviewed by clinicians to provide safe and effective care. There have been over 12,000 patient completions to date with a high patient satisfaction and saving time and money for patients through reducing unnecessary appointments. The Trust has also seen a reduction in unnecessary pre-operative investigations using an evidence-based approach and a saving of around 500 nursing hours per month. This has helped direct resources to those who need face to face assessments and also helped to reduce waiting times for surgery by up to two weeks.