What are PROMs?

Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) are structured questionnaires completed by patients before and after surgery or other health interventions. These surveys focus on aspects such as:

• pain
• mobility
• functional ability
• overall quality of life.

By capturing the patient’s perspective both pre- and post-treatment, PROMs allow for a direct comparison of health outcomes revealing what has improved and what may still need attention.

Why do PROMs matter?

PROMs are widely regarded as one of the best indicators of treatment effectiveness: the very purpose of healthcare. They provide a unique, patient-centred view of the impact of care, supplementing traditional clinical measures with real-world evidence. For example, are patients being treated too soon? Or discharged at the right time?

They also help healthcare providers to manage patients’ expectations pre- / post-treatment for the different aspects of recovery.

What PROMs does PHIN collect?

PHIN requires members to submit data in the form of PROMs for the following surgical procedures:

• carpal tunnel release
• cataract surgery
• hip replacement
• knee replacement
• nasal septoplasty
• shoulder replacement
• transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP)

And the following plastic surgery procedures:

• abdominoplasty
• augmentation mammoplasty
• blepharoplasty
• liposuction
• rhinoplasty
• reduction mammoplasty.

How do PROMs benefit healthcare providers

1. Enhancing Clinical Decision-Making

Pre-treatment: PROMs help consultants determine whether patients are within relevant ‘norms’ for treatment and identify any variances. This evidence supports decisions about the right timing for interventions and helps manage patient expectations regarding recovery.

Post-treatment: Providers can track patient progress towards treatment goals, adjust care plans based on reported outcomes, and analyse patterns to identify what works best. This continuous feedback loop supports quality improvement and clinical insight.

2. Supporting quality assurance and governance

PROMs offer tangible evidence of treatment effectiveness, which can be used for appraisals, accreditation, and revalidation.

They provide lightweight assurance compared to costly diagnostics and help justify investments in new equipment or techniques.

PROMs data also supports good clinical governance, helping to reduce harm, minimise (re)admissions, and support safety processes.

3. Driving organisational improvement

Hospitals can use PROMs to identify service efficiencies, decommission ineffective treatments, and benchmark performance against peers.

PROMs data helps highlight consultants or hospitals whose patients are not recovering as expected, prompting further investigation and improvement.

The evidence base supports marketing claims, enhances reputation, and can be used to compete on quality rather than just cost.

PROMs provide tangible assurance around provider safety, quality, effectiveness and value. Typically, high quality actually costs less.

4. Meeting regulatory and market demands

In the UK, private healthcare providers are required to supply PROMs data for performance measurement and publication. This transparency addresses the need for publicly available information on provider quality and supports informed patient choice.

PROMs facilitate increased price and quality competition, enabling providers to differentiate themselves in the market.

5. Motivating and supporting clinical staff

PROMs motivate clinical teams by providing evidence of the tangible difference they make to patients’ lives.

They help clinicians identify blind spots, improve communication with patients, and focus on what matters most to each individual.

6. PROMs as an engagement tool with patients

PROMs allow healthcare professionals to discuss what each patient's personal priorities and preferences are. This means they can uncover issues that the patient may not have mentioned or facilitate discussion about these in a way that a 'normal' conversation might not have prompted.

One patient at the ICHOM conference said: “You're only increasing your chances of having better outcomes if you participate in PROMs”.

Overcoming barriers to using PROMs

While some providers may be hesitant to participate in PROMs programmes – citing reasons such as time constraints, fear of negative comparisons, or lack of resources –the benefits for clinical practice, organisational performance, and patient outcomes are substantial. Education, streamlined processes, and leadership support can help overcome these barriers.

How is PHIN involved in PROMs?

PROMs are central to PHIN’s CMA compliance roadmap. PHIN has developed the architecture to allow providers to submit PROMs data and to make the information accessible to patients and the wider healthcare sector.

We established the ‘Whole-sector private PROMs working group’ to helped define and deliver the requirements under the CMA’s Private Healthcare Investigation Order. It also works on delivering solutions to each of the nine key recommendations of the PHIN commissioned LSE report into PROMs.

The group has tackled technical, cultural and clinical challenges in PROMs data.

This has led to hospital groups more effectively embedding PROMs into their governance and clinical workflows, new messages explaining the benefits of PROMs to patients and to clinicians, and tangible actions to push up participation with the help of PROMs suppliers who are integral to success.

It has also driven sector-wide improvements in how PROMs are collected, interpreted and used. It has championed the use of PROMs not just for compliance but for patient empowerment, cross-sector collaboration and thought leadership.

Conclusion

PROMs are a powerful tool for healthcare providers, offering actionable insights that drive better care, support regulatory compliance, and enhance organisational reputation and effectiveness.

Importantly, using PROMs helps to reduce harm and minimise hospital (re)admissions; support safety processes and risk identification – cost of poor performance can be punitive (i.e. criminal surgeon Ian Paterson) as well as in terms of reputation and customer experience.

By embracing PROMs, providers can demonstrate their commitment to quality, safety, and patient-centred care.

Want to know more?

Visit the PHIN portal help pages which have more information including details of companies who can help you work with PROMs.