'When will I have my operation?' is one of the 12 questions about hip fracture care in a new booklet, My Hip Fracture Care, from the National Hip Fracture Database.
The questions cover essential aspects of hip fracture care, and are designed to help patients, families and carers understand what is likely to happen while the patient is in hospital and after they are discharged.
Written in clear, plain English with as little jargon as possible, the booklet describes what a hip fracture is, why it happens and how it will be treated. It includes a list of 12 questions patients should consider asking the team looking after them, based on the essential elements of high-quality hip fracture care.
The questions cover aspects of care such as pain relief, memory problems, the seniority and kinds of doctor that should be involved in care, how soon an operation should take place, and rehabilitation following the operation or procedure. The booklet also includes the relevant results from the National Hip Fracture Database annual report for each question.
The booklets will be available to download free from the NHFD website and hard copies will be available.
Mr Rob Wakeman, NHFD clinical lead, orthopaedic surgery, said:
Patients who have not had a hip fracture before, and families and carers who have not supported someone through this injury, need the best possible advice on what the process entails and what care patient should receive. By using the booklet to encourage questions about their care, we hope that we will improve understanding of the patient journey. We know what the best care looks like – patients deserve it, and asking questions will encourage hospitals to provide that high quality care.
For more information, please contact Linda Cuthbertson, head of PR, on 0203 075 1254 / 0774 877 7919, or email Linda.Cuthbertson@rcplondon.ac.uk
- The National Hip Fracture Database (NHFD) is a clinically led, web-based quality improvement initiative commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) and managed by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP). The NHFD was founded by the British Orthopaedic Association and the British Geriatrics Society between 2004 and 2007. In 2013 the NHFD moved to be managed as part of the Falls and Fragility Fracture Audit Programme (FFFAP) within RCP London.
- All 182 eligible hospitals in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are now regularly submitting data to NHFD, the largest hip fracture database in the world, with:
- a third of a million cases recorded since its launch in 2007
- over 95% of all new hip fracture cases being documented
- 5,700 records being added every month.
About HQIP, the National Clinical Audit Programme and how it is funded
The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) is led by a consortium of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the Royal College of Nursing and National Voices. Its aim is to promote quality improvement, and in particular to increase the impact that clinical audit has on healthcare quality in England and Wales. HQIP hosts the contract to manage and develop the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP). NCAPOP is funded by NHS England, Welsh Government and with some individual audits also funded by the Health Department of the Scottish Government, DHSSPS Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands.