Patient Initiated Follow Up putting patients first at STARS

Traditionally, when people attend an outpatient appointment with a specialist, a follow-up appointment is provided automatically. In many cases, the patient may not require this follow-up appointment—their health issue may have resolved and they have no clinical reason to return to the hospital.

To reduce unnecessary appointments for patients, the Surgical, Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS) is piloting a new Patient Initiated Follow Up (PIFU) pathway for ear, nose and throat (ENT) patients.

For ENT Consultant Dr Sarju Vasani, PIFU delivers great benefits to patients.

“Attending follow-up appointments can be disruptive to a patient’s life and may require them to travel, which can be time consuming and costly,” Dr Vasani said

“PIFU supports patient-centred care and decision making, by empowering patients to request a follow up outpatient specialist appointment when required, rather than attend a routine appointment unnecessarily.

“ENT patients participating in PIFU can request an appointment if they have persistent and/or worsening symptoms, or even if they just want to talk through their medical conditions and treatment options.”

Dr Vasani said the ENT specialist team will contact the patient, usually within 3 working days, and arrange a face-to-face appointment if necessary.

“This provides the patient with timely access to see a specialist, rather than waiting until the scheduled follow-up appointment,” he said.

“The patient’s referring doctor is also informed that their patient is participating in PIFU.”

Dr Vasani said in addition to saving patients the hassle of attending appointments they don’t require, PIFU frees up capacity for other patients.

“By reducing follow up appointments that aren’t required, it means more patients will be able to see a specialist, reducing the current wait times.”

The patients who have signed up to the pilot to date have been very satisfied with the new pathway.

“PIFU has been understood by a variety of patients and adopted well. 100% of the patients report feeling confident navigating the pathway and would recommend PIFU to another patient,” Dr Vasani said.

STARS has received positive comments from patients about the benefits including:

• ‘I won’t have to pay for parking unnecessarily’
• ‘I have no complications and hence I don’t have a reason to go to an appointment’
• ‘It avoids congesting the system, so appointments are available for others’
• ‘I can get an appointment and I’m not having to wait until my next appointment as I did last time’
• ‘Instead of having a planned appointment and the day is wasted when all is good, if you have an issue you can book an appointment, that is a good thing’
• ‘Good quality care, looked after, eased anxiety’
• ‘Letting you go and leaving you alone but know help is there if you need it’
• ‘Simplicity and understanding’.

The PIFU pilot with ENT patients will run for 12 months.