Emergency Laparotomy Collaborative

Emergency laparotomy is a major surgical procedure of the abdomen, with 30,000 to 50,000 performed every year in the UK. However, around 15% of patients are reported to die within 30 days of surgery. Over 25% of patients remain in hospital for more than 20 days after surgery, costing the NHS over £200m a year.

The Emergency Laparotomy Collaborative aimed to improve standards of care for patients undergoing emergency laparotomy surgery and reduce mortality rates, complications and hospital length of stay by encouraging  staff to work together and develop quality improvement skills.

Surgical teams – including surgeons, anaesthetists, radiologists and nurses – from the 17 hospitals in our partnership that perform these procedures were invited to join the Collaborative, which provided the opportunity to:

• Learn about the Emergency Laparotomy Pathway Quality Improvement (ELPQuiC) bundle
• Share knowledge and best practice
• Work with teams from other hospitals
• Develop quality improvement skills

The Collaborative ran from January 2019 – March 2020.

For more information, please contact Improvement Advisor, Alexandra Hellyer