The impact of emergency laparotomy for people living with frailty

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    What is the lived experience following emergency laparotomy for older people living with frailty?

  • IRAS ID

    313436

  • Contact name

    Angeline Price

  • Contact email

    angeline.price@nca.nhs.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    Northern Care Alliance

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    1 years, 4 months, 27 days

  • Research summary

    This research aims to understand the impact of emergency laparotomy on older
    people living with frailty. An emergency laparotomy is a big operation that opens the
    abdomen. Reasons for an emergency laparotomy include a burst or blocked bowel.
    Every year 30,000 people in the UK have an emergency laparotomy. Half of these
    people are aged 65 years or above. Unfortunately, older adults are more likely to die orhave problems following the surgery. These risks are even higher if that person is frail.
    Frailty is a chronic condition caused by a build-up of other health problems. People
    who are frail rely on others to help with day-to-day activities. The more frail a person becomes, the less strength they have to recover from an illness or injury. A quarter of older people having anemergency laparotomy are frail and the risk of death afterwards is high. Those who survive tend to spend a long time in hospital. Many need carers or a move into a care home when discharged from hospital.
    Most research into emergency laparotomy only looks at first 90-day. We don't know what happens after this, or how the operation impacts on people’s lives once they leave hospital or how well they recover from the surgery. We need to know more so that we can improve the experience and reduce the risk of problems occurring at home.
    In this study, patients who have had an emergency laparotomy will be invited to be
    involved in telephone or face-to-face interviews. They will be asked to talk about theirexperience of emergency laparotomy. Some of these patients will be contacted every few months for a year.
    This information will help us to better understand the experience of emergency
    laparotomy from the patient’s point of view. It will help us to provide patients with
    information on what to expect after the surgery and what we can do to improve
    recovery.

  • REC name

    West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    22/WM/0210

  • Date of REC Opinion

    12 Oct 2022

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion