GIRFT data to help NHS teams improve the care and outcomes of children undergoing trauma and orthopaedic surgery has been added to the Model Health System.
A new compartment of clinical metrics for trauma and orthopaedic surgery on patients under 17 is now available via the improvement tool, giving trusts and systems the opportunity to gauge their own performance and benchmark against their peers in a large range of areas, such as treatment for clubfoot, knee procedures, fracture care and hip conditions like developmental dysplasia.
Access the metrics by logging in at https://model.nhs.uk/
GIRFT now has clinical metrics for 14 specialties* on Model Health System, as well as metrics related to high volume low complexity (HVLC) pathways which can be used to support elective recovery.
The new metrics have been drawn from GIRFT’s national review of paediatric trauma and orthopaedic surgery, led by James Hunter (surgeon at the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham). The review involved deep dive discussions with all 128 trusts offering paediatric T&O services in England, and the resulting national report, containing wide-ranging recommendations for improvement, was published in April 2022.
Mr Hunter said: “These new metrics enable individual providers and systems to assess the quality of care they are offering patients, as well as their productivity, and to easily spot where there are opportunities for improvement.
“They should be used alongside the recommendations and actions that resulted from our deep dive visits, which were summarised in the observation notes sent after each meeting, and those in the GIRFT national report.
“I hope they will give hard-working teams some additional insight into understanding and improving their practice.”
*Current GIRFT metrics are available for ENT, general surgery, gynaecology, ophthalmology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthopaedic surgery, paediatric surgery, paediatric ENT, paediatric T&O surgery, spinal services and urology. Historic metrics (due to be reviewed) are also in place for cardiac surgery, neurosurgery and vascular surgery.
