GIRFT Orthopaedic Trauma Services Survey

Overview

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Adult Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery Questionnaire and thank you for engaging and supporting us.  

The scope of Adult Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery is broad. Therefore, to make this questionnaire relevant - particularly during this time of unprecedented change - I have focussed on those areas which I believe to be important in themselves or a general indicator of a unit's well-being.

Following wide consultation, I have chosen to explore those areas in which there is already national or professional consensus as expressed in up to date NICE guidelines or BOASTs (British Orthopaedic Association Standards). Where appropriate in this questionnaire, I have referenced the relevant NICE guideline or BOAST and these can be viewed at the following links or on the relevant websites:

• www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng37
• www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng38
• www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg124
• www.boa.ac.uk/standards-guidance/boasts

The functional unit for the delivery of Orthopaedic Trauma Services will vary depending on the nature of the injury in question. Some injuries will be generally dealt with at the presenting hospital, whereas others require co-operation between units. I have decided that the basic denominator for visits will be those units that return data to the NHFD.  These should capture the individual functional units for orthopaedic trauma surgery. Other injuries may be managed more collaboratively as part of a network; their management will be reviewed not just in the individual units but also in the context of that network.

In some instances, I have asked whether there is a relevant in-house policy for particular issues and - should you have examples of exemplary practice - whether you would be happy to share these with others via the GIRFT or British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) website? This would help other trusts in formulate their own local policies and would also be quicker than waiting for the production of a final report. There is space available at the end of the questionnaire to record these.

There are also some questions that will need a short period of data collection i.e “Theatre team preparedness and education.” This particular section will necessitate some information being gathered locally at WHO timeouts ahead of the GIRFT Orthopaedic Trauma visit. 

One of the outcomes of each visit will be a number of recommendations. Consequently, it would be very helpful if -  as a group and prior to the visit -  you could consider two or three areas in which you feel the most progress could be made and complete the relevant section with brief and pertinent answers. This would be very much appreciated and help me to better understand your service in advance of the meeting.

In the meantime, I look forward to receiving your completed responses and meeting you at our Deep Dive.

Bob Handley
National Clinical Lead for GIRFT Orthopaedic Trauma

Why your views matter

GIRFT Privacy Notice update

NHS England Getting It Right First Time Programme (GIRFT) Information Governance Notice

Why are we collecting the data?

The results from the questionnaire will be used to support NHS England duty under the Health and Care Act 2022 to protect and promote the interests of people who use health care services by promoting provision of health care services which are, inter alia, economic, efficient and effective.

GIRFT is a national programme overseen by NHS England that aims to deliver quality improvement in patient outcomes through peer-to-peer discussion with Clinicians and managers in trust and wider local partners.  It combines wide-ranging data analysis with the input and professional knowledge of Clinicians to examine how things are currently being done and how they could be improved.

Results from the questionnaire will be used for only two purposes: (1) to support GIRFT deep dive or GIRFT implementation meetings in hospitals and networks; (2) to support recommendations in the GIRFT national specialty report.

The type and level of data being collected.

The questionnaire will not collect patient identifiable information.  The questions cover both quantifiable and qualitative themes with some response being a paragraph or two explaining how a trust interacts with neighbouring organizations (for example).  Most responses will be either yes/no or numbers, both of which GIRFT may use for benchmarking analysis.

The questionnaire may request the name and contact details of the person who submitted responses to allow GIRFT to follow-up for clarification of answers.

Who will access the data and how will it be further shared?

The results from the questionnaire will be stored within the secure IT environment managed by NHS England and will never leave this environment. Data will be accessed only by a small number of GIRFT staff that have NHS England permission to use the data for NHS England purposes. The secure NHS England IT data environment is regularly backed up and data will be stored until no longer required for the purpose of the implementation of the GIRFT programme.  NHS England may also share the data internally with NHS England regional and national teams to support our wider efficiency and productivity programmes and delivery of all statutory responsibilities of NHS England. 

Data Quality and Validation

Before you submit your Trust's questionnaire, it is worth noting that NHS England will not validate any answers. Please ensure that you check the quality of your data (in terms of both accuracy and completeness) before submission.