CoMetrica
Simplicity develops bespoke patient opinion database for healthcare specialist CoMetrica.
www.cometrica.co.uk
Our challenge
CoMetrica, which provides patient and client experience and outcomes measurement services to healthcare providers, approached Simplicity in late 2008. The CoMetrica team was looking for a database specialist to develop a commercial software product that it could sell to healthcare trusts, independent healthcare providers, healthcare charities and other organisations.
Ahead of the UK government's decree that healthcare providers must implement a system to collect patient opinion data by April 2009, CoMetrica had already developed an Office-based questionnaire prototype. Armed with this, CoMetrica initially spoke to 10 Web development companies and interviewed a shortlist of three before deciding to work with Simplicity.
"We were looking for an online database expert, not just a Web design company," comments Stuart Mathieson, founding director of CoMetrica. "Plus, we liked Simplicity's business analysis approach - they looked at how our business operates and what our end-user needs before they even started talking about the technology they might use."
The CoMetrica brief was exactly the kind of project that Simplicity relishes but it had its challenges, not least because it involved:
- Working with complex technology, including detailed patient data, optical reading and PDF generation
- Creating a product that would be used by multiple users with different skills and experience, such as medical professionals, customer service staff and hospital board members
- Integrating robust security features due to the sensitive nature of the data to be stored
What we did
Over a six-month period, Simplicity and CoMetrica worked together to develop COM-Q, a complex Web-based database that enables healthcare providers to manage Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMS), Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREMS) and non-clinical outcome and experience measures.
Using secure access from any internet point, organisations can manage their patient and client measures - a sophisticated matching engine ensures that patients are only asked questions relevant to them and their condition. Results can be seen daily in real time and can be exported with one click into Word, Excel, printed reports and PDFs.
"We needed the database to have a non-technical front-end as some users would need sophisticated reports with little interaction with the system," explains Stuart. "Doctors, nurses and hospital managers, for example, needed to be able to log in and quickly see what their patients are saying about their healthcare experience."
CoMetrica launched its pilot COM-Q service in October 2009 and has recently integrated images, such as psychological prompts and graphics for children or patients with learning disabilities, in its questionnaires.
"By offering this Web-based electronic and paper questionnaire service, we're taking away the hassle and cost of managing traditional multiple choice questionnaires," says Stuart. "Plus, we're helping our clients to match patient and client needs in real time."
The results
The benefits of COM-Q include: Compliance with the UK government's decree about PROMS, being able to identify performance problems early on and therefore manage risks, and reducing staff time and costs by simplifying questionnaire management.
A number of organisations, including South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust, South Birmingham PCT and the UK's leading supplier of medical nutrition and enteral feeding services to the NHS, Nutricia, are already using the COM-Q service:
- South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust uses COM-Q to measure ward patients' perception of cleanliness, cleanliness practices and pain management, allowing staff to concentrate on using the results rather than managing the survey.
- Nutricia is using CoMetrica's COM-Q service to measure patients' experiences and the effectiveness of training provided by their nursing teams nationally.
"Simplicity put a lot of effort into developing COM-Q and we are very pleased with the end result. It's a comprehensive and sophisticated system with distinct benefits for our clients," concludes Stuart.
"John and his team were able to see what drives our business in the longer term and were very flexible. I've found them absolutely delightful to work with and look forward to the next phase of our project."
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