Synopsis Blog

On 10 March 2020, Synopsis Home was launched as the latest solution within the Synopsis digital pre-operative assessment platform. Over the past 12 months, Synopsis Home has supported hospitals begin to tackle the backlog of elective surgery resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic by enabling patients to complete their pre-operative health questionnaire from home.

During this time, Synopsis Home has also been nominated for 6 awards, winning 2 awards to date – at the Health Tech Digital Awards 2020 and the Forward Healthcare Awards 2020.

 

What is Synopsis Home?

Synopsis Home is a web application enabling patients to complete their pre-operative health questionnaire remotely – outside of the hospital.

Patients can complete their pre-operative health questionnaire in the comfort of their home, anytime that is convenient for them. Once the health questionnaire is completed, it is then shared directly with the hospital, allowing the care team to triage patients more efficiently than ever before.

Synopsis Home is cloud-based and all data is owned by the patient. Patient information can only be viewed by the hospital once permission is granted by the patient and the patient is notified when their data has been accessed.

 

Reducing face-to-face appointments and improving social distancing with digital pre-op questionnaires completed remotely

As patients are able to complete their pre-operative health questionnaire outside of the hospital, patients can avoid unnecessary hospital attendances – reducing the volume of face-to-face appointments with staff, and reducing the volume of patients on-site at any time.

By reducing the number of unnecessary hospital visits, Synopsis Home also helps release time for staff. Released time within the pre-assessment process enables staff to optimise time with high-risk patients, who require more one-to-one time. Spending more clinical time with high-risk patients provides the opportunity to better educate them on pre and post-surgery care, leading to reductions in post-surgery re-admissions.

 

Launching during the COVID-19 pandemic at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

Synopsis Home’s first deployment was at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust in May 2020.

The deployment process was conducted largely remotely due to social distancing and infection prevention measures implemented to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Speaking about the launch of Synopsis Home alongside the implementation of Synopsis iQ across the Trust, Rachel Foley, Senior Sister Pre-Operative Assessment Countywide, WRH Theatre Admission Unit at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said:

“Earlier POA interventions are allowing us to identify patients at high risk of being unfit for their operation and intervene sooner and with more effective medical input to ensure they stand the very best chance of their surgery going ahead. Our elective surgery patients can now complete their health history questionnaire from the comfort of their own home, in their own time, then submit the answers in real-time to our clinical teams.

“After assessing answers submitted by patients using Synopsis Home, our clinical staff can quickly triage and separate the patients that are fit and ready for their operation and don’t require a full POA in hospital from those that do. Staff also benefit from referrals and replies being contained within one system, alongside completed risk assessments.”

“100% of Anaesthetic referrals and reviews are completed on Synopsis. We are seeing an increasing trend of patients choosing to use Synopsis Home to complete their pre-operative questionnaire from home (currently 64%). Hospital staff and patients continue to gain confidence in using the system to restart elective activity.”

“The majority of pre-op assessments are now requested within just two weeks of surgery, and Synopsis Home is proving vital in supporting us safely complete the assessments within this timeframe. The ability to digitally triage patients has also eliminated the need for some patients to attend hospital for their pre-op assessment.”

 

An award-winning digital pre-op solution

Following its deployment at NHS Trusts including Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust one year ago, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and North Bristol NHS Trust, Synopsis Home has been nominated for 6 awards, winning 2 awards to date.

Synopsis won the ‘Best Healthcare Management Solution’ category at the Health Tech Digital Awards and the ‘Enhancing Care through Technology’ category at the Forward Healthcare Awards 2020. Both awards specifically recognised the significant impact Synopsis Home has made not only to staff, but also patients by increasing convenience and reducing travel costs / time.

 

Find out more

Contact the team on itwh-info@vitalhub.com to learn more about Synopsis Home, one year on from its launch.