Is a primary care orthopaedic interface service sustainable in a continually changing political and healthcare environment?

Abstract

Purpose

Waiting times for secondary care orthopaedic appointments have been problematic for many years and led to the development of services outside traditional secondary care settings. The purpose of this paper is to question the sustainability of a primary care musculoskeletal interface service in the face of continuing policy change and future upheavals in the NHS design.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper considers the political, organisational, and governance issues faced by the NHS Bath and North East Somerset Orthopaedic Interface Service (OIS). It discusses critical factors that test its viability.

Findings

The OIS retain 50 per cent of orthopaedic patients referred via the Choose and Book system. Of those, 21 per cent of patients seen were referred onto secondary care, the rest are managed in primary care. Patient feedback on their experience within the OIS service is overwhelmingly positive.

Practical implications

The experiences described could be of value to new services, or for future benchmarking.

Social implications

Increasingly services will be provided outside traditional secondary care settings. There needs to be an increasing emphasis on self‐management as resources become increasingly under pressure.

Originality/value

The paper will be of interest to clinicians, commissioners, providers and possibly the general public. There was a flurry of literature when these services were first established but there has been less published of late, and this paper provides a contemporary perspective.

Citation

Ferguson, S. and Cook, F. (2011), "Is a primary care orthopaedic interface service sustainable in a continually changing political and healthcare environment?", Clinical Governance: An International Journal, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 137-147. https://doi.org/10.1108/14777271111124491