Process to establish 11 primary contact allied health pathways in a public health service.

Conclusion This paper describes key features of the allied health primary contact models of care and presents preliminary data including new case throughput, effect on wait times and enablers and challenges for clinic establishment.What is known about the topic? Allied health clinics have been demonstrated to result in high patient, referrer and consultant satisfaction, and are a cost-effective management strategy for wait list demand. In Queensland, physiotherapy-led orthopaedic clinics have been operating since 2005.What does this paper add? This paper describes the establishment of 11 allied health primary contact models of care in speciality out-patient areas including Ear, Nose and Throat, Gynaecology, Urology, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Orthopaedics and Plastic Surgery, and involving speech pathologists, audiologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and podiatrists as primary contact practitioners. Observations of enablers for and challenges to implementation are presented as key lessons.What are the implications for practitioners? The new allied health primary contact models of care described in this paper should be considered by health service executives, allied health leaders and specialist out-patient departments as one strategy to address unacceptably long specialist wait lists. PMID: 28483033 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Australian Health Review - Category: Hospital Management Authors: Tags: Aust Health Rev Source Type: research