We are delighted to announce the start of a new service which is helping patients with orthopaedic injuries access the care they need more quickly.
The James Paget has introduced a Virtual Fracture Clinic (VFC), to efficiently and safely manage demand for the treatment of acute orthopaedic injuries – whilst reducing the need for patients to visit the hospital.
This means that patients will need to take less time out of work or school for most conditions, saving on travel and parking costs whilst reducing the footfall through the Trust.
Patients access the service when they attend our Emergency Department (ED) with any injury to their bones or joints.
Previously, these patients would have been seen by ED staff for initial diagnosis - and then, unless urgent, wait for appointments to come back into hospital for face-to-face specialist orthopaedic assessments and treatment, which could take up to 2-3 weeks.
Now, they are referred by the ED team to the VFC where an Orthopaedic Consultant will review x-rays and medical notes the following day, before calling and writing to the patient to discuss next steps. The minority of patients that do need to be reviewed face to face are seen within a few days.
The new service was introduced in late summer and, in its first month of operation, has provided care for up to 200 patients per week, double the number previously seen.
The VFC service was set up by Mr Ahmed Elhalawany (Specialty Doctor in Trauma and Orthopaedics) and Mr Hersh Deo (Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon) without any cost to the Trust.
“We’re delighted to be offering this service to our patients as a way of improving their care,” said Dr Elhalawany.
“The Virtual Clinic means that notes and x-rays from ED can be reviewed by Orthopaedic Consultants the following day, meaning that clinical decisions on next steps in treatment can be taken appropriately and quickly. In turn, it also improves efficiency for allocating appointments for those patients who do need to return to hospital for treatment”.
The new service has been introduced alongside the launch of a “Virtual Fracture Clinic” section on the Trust’s website, which contains an online library of patient information sheets for more than 60 orthopaedic conditions, ranging from ankle sprains to elbow fractures.
“It’s a tried and tested way of delivering timely orthopaedic care,” said Mr Deo. “It’s a new service for us but some Virtual Fracture Clinics have been running at other Trusts for over 10 years and the operational data and patient feedback has been very positive.”
Mr Elhalawany and Mr Deo have been assisted in setting up and running the new service by colleagues including the Clinical Lead for the Trauma and Orthopaedics department, Mr Sunil Garg; Emergency Department Consultants Dr Jim Crawfurd and Dr Andrew Lindner; Divisional Operations Manager Steve Chalkley; Divisional Business Support Manager Karen Turner; Orthopaedic Matron Caroline Crane; and Virtual Fracture Clinic nurses Georgina Davey, Deborah Barrett, Anna Zuniga and Kavya Sowmini.
Our photograph shows Mr Deo (left) and Mr Elhalawany outside the James Paget Orthopaedic Outpatient Centre.