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The effectiveness of physiotherapist-led arthroplasty follow-up clinics
M J Walton1, J C Walton, M Bell
1Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, Bristol Royal Infirmary, UK. mikewalton@doctors.org.uk
Introduction:
The conventional job descriptions of professionals within the NHS need to evolve in order to meet increasingly stringent targets and demands. One innovation is the introduction of a physiotherapist-led arthroplasty follow-up clinic. We present an audit of 1000 appointments to this clinic.
Patients And Methods:
A total of 865 patients were seen with 933 arthroplasties over an 8-month period; 135 appointments were not attended. Prospective data were collected at each attendance.
Results:
Less than 7.5% of patients required re-referral to an orthopaedic consultant, of which 36% were for consideration for further joint replacement. The cost of a physiotherapy appointment was pound4.97 compared to pound5.04 for a traditional orthopaedic assessment. By reducing the number of follow-up patients seen in orthopaedic clinics, we estimate that each consultant would be able to see two additional new patients per week.
Conclusions:
Assessment of arthroplasty follow-up outside of the traditional orthopaedic clinic setting is a time-effective alternative; however, the cost-benefit and educational impact is less clear.