Measuring, reporting and comparing outcomes that matter to patients is critically important to determine which interventions are most likely to lead to sustained, long-term health for patients. What’s more, it has been globally recognised that Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) can play a supporting role in helping patients and their doctors make informed treatment decisions; engaging and empowering patients, and improving outcomes. Collecting PROMs, however, has proven to be challenging and costly, and the current methods employed limit the scope for this information to be used in the clinical management of patients.

We set out to develop JointPRO to address these challenges, and facilitate longitudinal, individualised PROMs collection so that we may track the evolution of a patient’s condition over time, and better gauge what improvement (or change) might be attributable to their treatment.

Patient’s self-reported health is evaluated using established PROMs instruments (Oxford Hip and Knee Scores, and EQ5D), as well as the Imperial Score, a novel PROMs instrument that has been developed in our Lab. The Imperial Score is unique in enabling each patient to set their own personal aspirations pre-operatively, against which the success (or otherwise) of the intervention is determined. This heightens patient relevance and sensitivity so that we are better able to evaluate which interventions are most effective, as defined by patients themselves.

JointPRO encourages patients to login and score themselves at regular intervals, pre- and post-operatively, so that changes in health over time may be reliably assessed. This quantifiable patient-reported information is accessible in real-time to patients and their clinician(s) (where consent has been granted).

JointPRO enables patients to track their progress over time, whilst viewing their scores in the context of their own individual aspirations. This facilitates patient partnership with the medical team by providing a platform for patients to co-own their surgical episode - empowering them to set personal aspirations, make treatment decisions and direct their functional rehabilitation. JointPRO provides clinicians with a valuable tool to support informed decision-making and actively monitor their patients. Critically, it obviates the need for unnecessary clinic appointments, enabling ‘smart’ targeted patient reviews. The data collected from patients may also contribute to effectiveness studies or help assess the relative clinical quality of providers - with the ultimate aims of a) delivering optimal patient care, b) maximising patient experience, and c) achieving success for patients, from their perspective.

JointPRO has received overwhelming support from the NHS in primary, secondary and community care settings, and is to be piloted with IC NHS Trust and a private hospital group in November 2014.

 To register with the site, please visit www.jointpro.co.uk and don’t hesitate to contact Maria Woringer (m.woringer@imperial.ac.uk) if you have any questions.