Live documentation to increase timeliness of outcomes from bariatric MDT meetings on electronic patient records: a quality improvement project

Abstract Background Bariatric multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings are critical for the coordination of complex patient care, however, delay in documenting outcomes on electronic patient records (EPRs) can slow clinical decision making and patient management. Both the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society (BOMSS) and the General Medical Council (GMC) recommend prompt documentation and sharing of MDT decisions with relevant healthcare professionals. Timely MDT documentation is recognised as important across specialties, but there is limited evidence on effective strategies to improve documentation timeliness specifically in bariatric services, where case complexity is increasing with newer therapies. This project aimed to improve the completeness and timeliness of bariatric MDT outcome documentation on the EPR by introducing live documentation during meetings. Methods We conducted a quality improvement project at a district general hospital bariatric centre. The baseline audit (January 2023–December 2024) recorded documentation practices for 1,498 patients. Following team consultation, we implemented live documentation during MDT meetings. The post-intervention audit (January–May 2025) evaluated 294 patients. We measured documentation completeness, same-day recording rates among patients who had an EPR outcome recorded, and time delays. Because documentation delay data were highly skewed, the primary comparison of delay used the Mann-Whitney U test, with median and interquartile range reported as the principal descriptive statistics. chi-square test was used for categorical variables. Absolute risk differences with 95% confidence intervals were calculated using the Wald method for two independent proportions. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 28. Results Before intervention, 228/1,498 patients (15.2%) had no MDT outcome documented on the EPR. Among the 1,270 patients with documentation, 106 (8.3%) had same-day entries; the median delay was 7 days (IQR 5–40). Post-intervention, only 5/294 patients (1.7%) lacked an EPR report. Among the 289 patients with documentation, 121 (41.9%) had same-day entries; the median delay fell to 1 day (IQR 0–4). The reduction in documentation delay was statistically significant (Mann-Whitney U test, p < 0.001). The proportion of patients without documentation decreased by an absolute 13.5% (95% CI − 15.9% to − 11.2%; p < 0.001). Same-day documentation among those with a recorded outcome increased by an absolute 33.6% (95% CI + 27.6% to + 39.4%; p < 0.001). Conclusion Live documentation during bariatric MDT meetings was associated with improved completeness and timeliness of EPR entries. This simple initiative may improve timely access to MDT decisions for professionals coordinating care and offers a potentially transferable approach for other specialities managing complex conditions, particularly as bariatric care evolves with new technologies and therapies.