PROMISE CARE STUDY
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Improving the long-term care of patients who have had bariatric surgery: PROMISE CARE study
IRAS ID
320028
Contact name
Helen M Parretti
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of East Anglia
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
Summary of Research
Studies have shown the benefits of weight-loss surgery (WLS). However, people who have had WLS can have physical and psychological health needs that require careful monitoring post-surgery.
Guidance recommends patients are reviewed by their surgical team for 2yrs and then have yearly GP reviews. However, research suggests these GP reviews are not happening. We know that many GPs are not confident in caring for patients post-WLS, and patients want more support. We plan to develop and test a package of care for patients post-WLS, but before we can do this we need to do some developmental work to inform this future study. It is not clear who would be best to give this long-term care, or how patients would prefer to receive it. There are difficulties in deciding what this care should look like, including variation in weight management services, GP/hospital capacity and variable patient needs.
This study aims to understand the issues relating to long-term care following WLS from the perspectives of key stakeholders to help us decide what should be included in the package of long-term care for patients post-WLS.
We will interview healthcare professionals as there is not yet any detailed information from research on their views. Then we will hold three discussion meetings using “system mapping”, a process that allows us to gather information to produce a diagram (like a mind map/spider diagram) showing the issues related to post-WLS care and what affects them, from the perspectives of stakeholders.Finally, we will meet with stakeholders again to discuss the “map” and agree what type and format of intervention to develop and test in a larger research study.
WLS patients have helped develop this project. We will continue to engage with patient/public contributors throughout this research. We will share our findings with patients, clinicians, commissioners and policy makers.
Summary of Results
Background Weight-loss surgery (WLS) benefits health, but can result in long-term problems. Guidance recommends reviews by the surgical team for 2yrs after surgery and then yearly GP reviews. However, research suggests these GP reviews are not happening.
Aims and objectives
We want to develop and test a package of care to support WLS patients, but needed to understand better the issues in giving this care.
Methods
We interviewed primary care and specialist weight management healthcare professionals (HCPs) to explore experiences/views on long-term care after WLS. Then we held three workshops with patients, HCPs and NHS commissioners. These used “system mapping”, a process that allows us to gather information to produce a visual map that shows all the issues related to delivering post-surgical care. We met with participants again to discuss the system map and identify possible interventions.
Key findings
Our analysis revealed ten themes relating to providing long-term WLS follow-up care. The system map showed the complexity of long-term follow-up support after WLS. Stakeholders identified ten key elements (for example, minimum requirements for services) that should be considered in a future package of care.
Dissemination, outputs and impact
This research has been presented at two academic meetings. We also plan to present the system map at future meetings and publish two academic papers. We plan to share findings with the public, patient groups, clinicians, commissioners and policy makers.
Patient and public involvement (PPIE)
Four people and our PPIE co-investigator who have had WLS shared their views throughout the research. Their input was key to the system mapping workshops.
Conclusions and future plans
We have gained a good understanding of the issues around providing long-term care after WLS, which will help develop and evaluate a programme for long-term care after WLS.REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/NE/0039
Date of REC Opinion
21 Feb 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion