Cost effectiveness unlocked: Redefining clinical outcomes augmented by 'Post Op' Digital Care Platform

Author(s): Myrto Vlazaki, Momna Sajjad Raja, Abdul-Rahman Gomaa, Faizal Rayan.

Following surgery, NHS-patients are discharged from hospital with a letter to their GP, with or without a follow-up outpatient appointment. Post-operatively, they may be anxious about their recovery milestones and complications. On one hand, these issues can lead to post-operative patients seeking medical advice/care from less specialised professionals, including their GP, urgent care centres and emergency departments. On the other hand, patients may suffer complications and may delay seeking medical care, making their management more difficult. In this paper, we present a cost-effectiveness analysis to quantify the costs related to partial or ineffective post-discharge pathways for surgical patients and estimate the potential savings for NHS resources achieved by introducing an app to connect patients with the surgical team post-discharge. Considering costs from avoidable presentations to the Emergency Department, costs borne by patients, environmental costs, and costs associated with antibiotic tolerance and resistance as a result of late recognition of surgical site infections, we estimate that a digitalised postoperative care pathway can save over £60,000 per 100 patients even when accounting for the increased number of outpatient clinic follow-ups.