First PQIP Annual Report published

The Perioperative Quality Improvement Programme (PQIP) has published its first Annual Report. PQIP, a research study being led by the National Institute of Academic Anaesthesia Health Services Research Centre, working on behalf of the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) and a range of stakeholders, aims to improve patient outcomes from major surgery. Hospitals collect data on patient characteristics, quality of care and postoperative complications – patients provide their own feedback on satisfaction with care and longer-term quality of life. Since PQIP started in December 2017, over 6,500 patients have been recruited from 79 hospitals across England, with sites in Scotland and Wales due to join soon.

The 2017-18 Annual Report outlines PQIP’s top five national improvement opportunities for 2018-19, including a focus on individualised risk assessment, adherence to enhanced recovery principles, and the optimisation of anaemia, diabetes, and postoperative pain.

Professor Ramani Moonesinghe, PQIP Chief Investigator, said: “PQIP is well on the way to being the largest research study aimed at improving the quality of perioperative care in the history of the NHS. Our method is to support clinicians to use high-quality local data to deliver improvements. This first report highlights opportunities for changes which we think are deliverable across the NHS, and should provide real benefit to patients.”

“It is gratifying to be able to showcase the achievements of centres who are doing well, particularly as these include hospitals from across the country, large and small, teaching and district general. Through celebrating these successes, sharing ideas and knowledge at our annual events and the hard work and enthusiasm of our hundreds of local collaborators, we feel confident that over the next few years we will achieve meaningful improvements in patient outcomes. The report should be of benefit to all hospitals delivering adult surgical care, not just those currently involved in PQIP – and we hope that it motivates more centres to join us.”

The RCoA believes that collaborative and efficient perioperative care is the route to effective and sustainable surgery. Dr Liam Brennan, President of the RCoA, said: "As a key part of the RCoA perioperative medicine programme, PQIP demonstrates that while there are pockets of excellence across the NHS, no hospital as yet offers a complete perioperative medicine package for every patient. All hospitals are encouraged to participate in this programme to enhance the delivery of perioperative care across the whole of the NHS.”

PQIP’s 2017-18 Annual Report can be found here. More information can be found on PQIP’s website or by contacting pqip@rcoa.ac.uk.