Our Liver Surveillance application provides effective patient management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to ensure effective recall of patients and tracking of clinical decisions.
We know that Trusts often find the management of liver surveillance patients challenging as they require regular surveillance over a long period of time and it can be difficult to manage the logistics of where a patient is within their surveillance cycle.
Our solution improves clinical safety and governance by removing the risk of human error and eliminating the reliance of locally held spreadsheets to manage patients.
Our offer
The fundamental purpose of the application is to manage the cyclical review process of liver surveillance patients. Users can select initial test results from a range of relevant options which are then input into the system to calculate the following:
- Child-Pugh score (A/B/C)
- UKELD score – calculated from several parameters based on blood results.
Users can add further test cycles following a patient review and consultation at regular intervals. The system automatically generates letters and emails to be sent to patients for appointments through a series of customisable templates. Depending on patient diagnostics, further test cycles can be scheduled, allowing the clinician to choose from a selection of different test types.
The application offers a comprehensive reporting suite and dashboard. Critically, this means there is clarity around the next steps and transparency around performance. Report capabilities include:
- Weekly service reports showcasing tests due, tests for review and abnormal tests requiring action
- Periodic governance reports to assess service performance against sub-speciality key performance indicators (KPIs)
- Periodic activity and outcome reports: number in surveillance, DNA rates, HCC rates and mortality rates.
The benefits
- Increased clinical governance and patient safety through improved patient tracking and monitoring
- Improved productivity and efficiency of team members as this replaces manual processes resulting in cost savings
- Full visibility of the surveillance programme at patient level, increasing organisational assurance
- Geographical analysis of historical results/trends
- A single version of the truth as the application can be accessed on any device
- Security of patient-level data based on clearly defined user-permissions (purpose-based access control)
- Automatic production of emails and letters to patients
- Comprehensive reporting suite supporting quarterly returns for cancer alliances
- Integrated directly with hospital EPR/PAS systems and other key data sources for requirements such as test results
- Easy to implement, the application is cloud based and users can be granted access instantly
- Supports IQILS accreditation by assisting Trusts to demonstrate the quality of their clinical services against established standards.
Case studies
Delivery of HCC surveillance
The challenge Trusts often find the management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) liver surveillance patients to be a challenge as patients require regular surveillance over a long period of time and it can be difficult to manage the logistics of where a patient is...
Our work
St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (STHK) identified a requirement to replace their current system of spreadsheets with a web-based solution. STHK run a HCC liver surveillance programme which monitors patients every six months with annual follow up in clinics.
The Trust worked with NECS to develop an application which provides effective patient management of their HCC liver surveillance programme to ensure effective call/recall of patients and tracking of clinical decisions. NECS worked with Mark Fox, Consultant Gastroenterologist at STHK, to develop the application and delivered a minimum viable product (MVP) in August 2020.
Contact the team
Sonia Rafferty
Principal Consultant, Digital Solutions
sonia.rafferty@nhs.net