New digital platform helping to cut orthopaedic waiting list in Swansea Bay up for award
A new initiative that is helping reduce wating lists for orthopaedic surgery in Swansea Bay, has been shortlisted for a major award.
The Orthopaedic Waiting List Initiative focuses on improving the fitness of patients before they face surgery (prehabilitation). This reduces the chances of operations being cancelled or not as successful as they could have been - making life easier for the patient while also saving money for the NHS in the long run.
The fitter a patient is before surgery, the greater the chances of a better recovery and successful outcome.
Shortlisted for the Advancing Healthcare Awards Cymru 2025, in the Award for Digital and Technology Innovation category, it uses a customised digital platform to monitor patients’ health, identify deterioration and provide rehabilitation support to those on waiting lists.
The innovative approach, created in collaboration with technology partner Pro-Mapp limited, also allows patients to flag up any health symptoms while awaiting surgery, and receive personalised lifestyle support.
It can also directs those with greater health needs to the appropriate therapy service and detects any health conditions which need intervention.
Examples include people who smoke being offered help to quit, those with a high BMI referred to supervised weigh management services, and others offered a range of online self-management support.
Launched in 2023, more than 5,000 patients have already benefitted from the data and there is a lot of potential to roll it out to support other specialities.
It has already won the Technology and Digital Impact Award at the Medi Wales Innovation Awards 2024.
Dr Cat Cromey, Consultant Anaesthetist and Clinical Lead for Peri-operative Medicine, has been instrumental in driving the project forward alongside Swansea Bay Physiotherapist, Chris Lambert.
She said: “I became aware of the great work that Chris Lambert and the Pro-Mapp team had done to develop a digital platform for the hugely successful prehabilitation programme.
“Originally the platform was used for reaching out to patients on waiting lists and screening them for suitability for lifestyle support.
“At the same time, Swansea Bay Pre-Assessment service needed to introduce a health screening questionnaire (HSQ) for patients awaiting surgery in order to assess their health conditions and offer them support and optimisation whilst they waited.
“As part of our joint Bevan Commission sponsored project, we worked together with our pathway colleagues to build the HSQ which allows us to identify health conditions early, offer general and specific advice and empower patients to improve their health whilst they wait with the ultimate goal of increasing their chance of a successful surgical outcome.
“We know that the fitter you are in anticipation of surgery, the lower your risks will be and the higher the chance that you will get the best possible results from your operation.
“Facing surgery can be a trigger to make healthier decisions and an opportunity to optimise long standing health conditions and the more time, guidance and opportunity we give to patients to achieve this the better their outcome can be.
“The results of these HSQs can also help surgical teams to plan which hospital the operation can occur in and Swansea Bay to plan resources in order to support patients whilst they wait and throughout the perioperative journey.”
Dr Cromey said the team were delighted to be shortlisted and added that it was hope their work could be expanded across other services in the future.
She said: “It is great to get through to the short list of the AHA and the bigger hope is that we can expand this service across Swansea Bay to improve the health and wellbeing of patients, whatever operation they are facing.”
The winners will be announced during a lunch ceremony on Friday, 14 November, in Cardiff Marriott Hotel.
Picture caption: SBUHB Physiotherapist, Chris Lambert, and Dr Cat Cromey, Consultant Anaesthetist and Clinical Lead
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