1508 Acute ENT Clinic Audit

Abstract

Abstract Introduction The acute ENT clinic is run by the ENT SHO’s and is used to assess and treat patients with a variety of everyday ENT pathology. As a department, we are seeing increasing numbers of patients who have been referred via the community for conditions that do not meet the departmental guidelines as well as noting our clinic is consistently overbooked and overrunning. Method A retrospective audit was performed analysing all clinic data between December 2019 and January 2020, specifically looking at patient demographics and reason for referral. The total number of patients per clinic was analysed and compared against ENT UK guidelines for safe clinic numbers, which state that an SHO led acute clinic should have 6 patients maximum. Results Over a two-month period, we looked at data from 35 clinics. As per our standard operating practice, children should be seen first in the clinic and this occurred in only 8 clinics (22.9%). Secondly, 8 clinics had appropriately booked a maximum of 6 patients, whilst in 27 clinics (77.2%) there were more than 7 patients booked. Finally, 69.8% of patients had unsuitable referrals as per the guideline. Conclusions It is clear from our data that the capacity of the acute clinic does not meet its current demand, and this is something that needs to be addressed to ensure patient safety and to adhere to ENT UK guidance. The implementation of a more stringent referral system will increase patient safety by ensuring patients with appropriate pathology are seen in this clinic.