Patient Perspectives on Surgeon Outcome Reports for Bariatric Surgery
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Patient Perspectives on Surgeon Specific Outcome Reports for NHS Bariatric Surgery
IRAS ID
292004
Contact name
Sanjay Purkayastha
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 30 days
Research summary
Summary of Research
The publication of surgical outcomes specific to individual surgeons across many different specialties has been ongoing for over five years. In bariatric (or weight-loss) surgery, the UK National Bariatric Surgery Registry records data for every surgeon who performs NHS bariatric surgery ranging from total number and type of procedure to the proportion of patients who have complications. Surgeons believe it is important to publish this data in order to promote transparency and many believe that reporting this data may improve standards of care and identify outlying surgeons or hospitals.However, it is unclear what patients think about the publication of this data. Similar work done with patients due to or have recently had vascular surgery showed that most patients were not aware of the publication of this data at all. The purpose of this study is firstly to see whether patients who are being considered or have had bariatric surgery are aware of this data and secondly what their views and priorities for the reporting of this data is.
Summary of Results
Surgeon specific outcome reports (SSOR) can be accessed freely by the general public to promote transparency and informed decision-making. However, the views amongst bariatric patients concerning this data are unknown. We therefore aimed to determine patient awareness, views and priorities for outcome reporting in bariatric surgery and to provide recommendations for future surgeon-specific outcome reporting through the National Bariatric Surgery Registry. We modified a previously validated questionnaire and surveyed the views of 150 bariatric surgery patients.We found that 73% of participants were unaware they could access SSOR and of these participants that were unaware, 75% stated that they would have accessed SSOR had they been aware they could. Of the participants that had previously accessed SSOR, 86% stated they understood the data, although 61% indicated it did not influence their choice of surgeon. The majority of participants favoured public release of outcome reports at the surgeon-level (75%) and hospital-level (83%). The three main priorities indicated by participants for future outcome reporting were complication rates (91%), patient reported outcome measures (90%), and reoperation rate (89%), all at the surgeon level.
We conclude that patient awareness of outcome reporting is poor and that efforts must be made to increase awareness of SSOR amongst patients. Finally, patients should be incorporated as key stakeholders in determining future outcome reporting in bariatric surgery.
REC name
London - South East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/PR/0875
Date of REC Opinion
22 Dec 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion