Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) and Altera Digital Health have unveiled the results of a digital transformation that has optimised the Acute Abdomen Pathway. By embedding National Emergency Laparotomy Audit (NELA) guidance into WWL’s Altera Sunrise Electronic Patient Record (EPR) platform, the trust has achieved significant improvements in patient outcomes, operational efficiency and quality of care, earning its first-ever Best Practice Tariff (BPT) for emergency laparotomy.
The digital transformation achieved significant improvements across several key metrics, including:
- 100% compliance with Acute Abdomen Pathway documentation standards
- 100% completion of Age and Complex Medicine reviews and Critical Care Outreach Team (CCOT) reviews for high-risk patients
- 76% of urgent CT scans reported within one hour, up from 41%
- Eligibility for the Best Practice Tariff (BPT) for the first time, securing ongoing funding
WWL’s Acute Abdomen Pathway was previously hindered by a paper-based system, underutilisation and inconsistent communication, leading to delays and potential variations in patient care. To address this, the trust sought a digitally enabled solution to align with national guidance, enhance patient outcomes and optimise clinician workflows.
“The digital transformation of our Acute Abdomen Pathway within the Sunrise EPR platform has demonstrated improved compliance with best practice documentation and guidance, prompting the clinician to follow the protocol based on the patient’s presentation,” said Petro Bekker, Chief Nurse Information Officer and Associate Director of Clinical Informatics at WWL. “By streamlining critical processes and making them intuitive for clinicians, we’ve seen tangible improvements in patient care, from faster CT reporting to comprehensive geriatric reviews.”
Leveraging the flexibility of the Sunrise EPR platform, the solution now provides contextual decision support, automatically presenting NELA guidance and actions at the point of care. It also enables streamlined one-click ordering for CTs, integrates NELA mortality risk scoring for early identification, enhances radiology integration to prioritise urgent scans, and ensures automated end-to-end pathway coverage through referrals to specialist teams like Age and Complex Medicine and Critical Care Outreach.
Dr. Andrew Starkie, Accident & Emergency Consultant at WWL, added: “Embedding the pathway into our ED electronic patient record has substantially improved how we assess patients with an acute abdomen, enabling better risk stratification and more effective organisation of ongoing care.”
Mark Hutchinson, Executive Vice President, Altera Digital Health (UK & EMEA) commented: “We are incredibly proud to partner with Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on their digital transformation journey. Their success in leveraging the flexibility of the Sunrise EPR platform to embed NELA guidance is a powerful example of how a configurable digital health solution adds value. This approach streamlines workflows, maximises productivity and crucially enhances patient safety and outcomes, empowering trusts to drive impactful, tailored change.”
Future plans include expanding the NELA nurse role to enhance recovery and patient feedback. The initiative has already won “Best Audit and Quality Improvement” at the Trust’s Clinical Audit Best Practice event.
