10 September 2018
UH Bristol cataract questionnaire recognised across the UK
A questionnaire developed by UH Bristol is being piloted for use
in the national cataract surgery audit in England and will be
rolled out across health boards in Wales.
It comes as part of a five-year National Institute for Health
Research (NIHR) funded cataract research programme, which is one
year away from completion. The last stage aims to develop a tool
which will help patients decide, together with their clinician,
whether cataract surgery is the right choice for them. As part of
the study, a type of questionnaire called a patient reported
outcome measure (PROM) was developed for patients to compare their
vision before and after cataract surgery.
This cataract-specific PROM (Cat-PROM5) has not only contributed
to the next stage of the study, it has been translated into Welsh,
with the aim of implementation across Wales as part of the PROMs,
patient-reported experience measure (PREMs) and effectiveness
programme.
Separately, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists is undertaking
a feasibility study on the collection of PROMs for cataract surgery
using the Cat-PROM5 tool as part of the National Ophthalmology
Database Audit, commissioned by the Health Quality Improvement
Partnership. Collection of data from Cat-PROM5 will provide an
alternative measure on visual success of cataract surgery and
valuable information to improve quality for patients.
Cataract is an extremely common, potentially blinding age
related condition, with cataract surgery being the most frequently
undertaken surgical procedure on the NHS (~390,000 annually in
England).
Before and after surgery vision testing is normally done one eye
at a time using an optician's letter chart. Although useful,
testing in this way does not capture a patient's everyday
experience of their vision. Asking patients about their everyday
vision in a structured way allows the patient's perception of their
eyesight to be measured.
The NIHR-funded cataract research programme is being conducted
across three other NHS centres as well as UH Bristol: Torbay and
South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS
Foundation Trust and Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS
Trust. Additionally, Cardiff University researchers, who have
specific expertise in decision aid development, are actively
collaborating on this element of the programme.
At UH Bristol, the programme is being undertaken by researchers
at the Bristol Eye Hospital.
Chief investigator, Professor John Sparrow, said: "The use of
Cat‑PROM5 to gauge patient's self-reported visual difficulties and
its relief from surgery will allow the NHS to measure for the first
time in a direct way the benefits provided to patients undergoing
this extremely common sight changing operation."
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR): improving the
health and wealth of the nation through research.
Established by the Department of Health, the NIHR:
· funds
high quality research to improve health
· trains
and supports health researchers
· provides
world-class research facilities
· works
with the life sciences industry and charities to benefit all
· involves
patients and the public at every step
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