8 A prospective audit on outpatient clinical activity in a consultant-led general medical and specialist geriatric clinic

Abstract

Abstract Background It is recognised that there is a significant unprecedented pent-up demand on Irish healthcare services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has resulted in lengthy acute hospital scheduled care waitlists. We identified a national protocol that provides guidance in the area of outpatient waiting list management. The aim of this audit was to determine if our practice was consistent with national guidance. Methods We conducted a prospective audit on a consultant-led medical and specialist geriatric clinic between January to March 2023 and collected data in relation to referral reason, triage category, waitlist times, clinic attendance, hospital admissions, inter-specialty communication and resolution of clinical problem prior to outpatient clinic attendance. Results We included 67 patient appointments in this audit. Median waitlist time was 15.5 weeks. There were 2 urgent referrals, both were not seen within the Clinically Recommended Timeframe (CRT). 94% were seen within the CRT. 11 patients (16.4%) failed to attend their clinic appointment, only 3 of which cancelled beforehand. 5 patients (7.5%) were inpatients during waitlist time and 4 had reason for outpatient referral addressed during their inpatient stay. 8 patients (11.9%) had same referrals sent to a second point of contact, only 5 had correspondence available in medical records at time of audit. Conclusion Our findings indicate that the majority of our waitlist times fall within national target recommendations, however more robust pathways need to be developed to ensure urgent referrals are seen promptly. They also indicate inter-specialty and patient communication need to be enhanced to minimise duplicate or unnecessary appointments that add to waitlist burden.