What is the potential impact of our intervention?
- Improved patient care, particularly for female patients: Around 40% of patients referred to surgeons for appendicitis ultimately undergo appendicectomy. However, the rate of negative appendectomies, where no appendiceal pathology is found, is disproportionately higher in women compared to men. Furthermore, approximately one-third of the surgical procedures performed in women were deemed unnecessary (compared to 12% in men). Overall, a reduction in operative overtreatment could reduce negative outcomes including complications from surgical site infections. Furthermore, receiving the correct treatment for your underlying condition could positively impact patient quality of life outcomes.
- Reducing associated healthcare costs: In England, 52,896 appendicectomies are performed yearly, with an average hospital stay of 3 days.[2] Around 20% of appendicectomies performed in emergency theatres nationally were found to be histologically normal.[1] Based on the 2019-20 figures, if negative appendicectomies were reduced by 30%, NHS England could prevent 3,173 unnecessary operations every year (over 9,500 bed days).
- Improving allocation of emergency resources: Patients who receive negative surgery spend more time in hospital than patients with non-perforated appendicitis (3.3 days vs 1.7 days).[7] Reducing these numbers and unnecessary admissions in patients with an alternate diagnosis could have significant implications on bed-service management, resources and waiting times.