Improving fracture clinic services and becoming compliant with BOAST 7 guidelines with the use of Virtual Fracture Clinic

12^th International Conference on ORTHOPEDICS, OSTEOPOROSIS & TRAUMA

November 13-14, 2019 | London, UK

Charles Wallace

SPR Homerton Hospital, UK

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Orthop Trauma Surg Rel Res

Abstract :

The British Orthopedic Association recommends that patients referred to fracture clinic are reviewed within 72 hours. With the increase in referrals and limited clinic capacity it is becoming increasingly difficult to see every referral with in a 72-hour time frame. Some patients are waiting 2 weeks or more before they can be seen in a fracture clinic. With the aim of improving care by seeking to meet BOAST 7 target, waiting times for fracture clinic appointments at the Homerton University Hospital were audited prospectively against this national guideline, before virtual fracture clinic was implemented and 6 weeks after the implementation of virtual fracture clinic at our hospital. Virtual fracture clinic is where an Orthopedic consultant reviews a patient’s x-rays and A&E documentation and decides if that patients’ needs to be seen in a face to face fracture clinic to discuss operative vs. non-operative management of their injury or if a treatment plan can be delivered without the patient having to come back to hospital.

Materials and methods: The study was conducted as a prospective closed-loop audit in which the second cycle took place after the implementation of the new virtual fracture clinic service.

Results: The first cycle showed a non-compliant waiting time with only 18% of patients being seen within 72 hours. Following the implementation of virtual fracture clinic, 84% of all patients were reviewed within 72 hours.

Discussion: The improvement in performance was delivered with no increase in the clinic’s capacity. Virtual fracture clinic eased the clinic’s capacity by avoiding overbookings and oversubscribing of patients and more than 80% of patients were seen within 72 hours.

Conclusion: Virtual fracture clinic delivered a significant reduction in waiting times. Virtual fracture clinic has only just been implemented at the Homerton University Hospital and hopefully at the next audit we will be 100% compliant with the BOA BOAST 7 Guideline. We would recommend that virtual fracture clinics being rolled out in Orthopedic departments in all hospitals which have Orthopedic services.

Biography :

Charles Wallace currently works at the Homerton Hospital as a Specialist Registrar in Trauma and Orthopedics. He is dedicated to quality improvement projects and being a part of NHS Improvement.

E-mail: charlesnwallace@gmail.com