The rapid access eye clinic’s playbook: how to cut eye casualty attendance by 50%

Abstract

Background

Moorfields Eye Unit at the London Borough of Croydon sees over 47,000 outpatient attendances each year, 5894 of which attended the eye walk-in Urgent Care in the 2017– 2018 year, which has become unsustainable.

Methods

A recent audit found that referrers and patients had limited experience in managing ophthalmic conditions. If triaged according to clinical need only 22% patients attended required same-day hospital eye care. As such the service needed to be reconfigured. This was achieved through extensive collaboration with our local Clinical commissioning groups (CCG), General Practitioner (GP) body, Optometrists and host hospital at the Croydon University Hospital. The Rapid Access Clinic (RAC) was set up in November 2018 to replace the old-style walk-in pathway and provide a streamlined emergency eye care service for patients.

Results

RAC demonstrated an efficient and safe triage system which can improve patient flow. Since the launch date of RAC on the 1st November 2018, a 50% sustained decrease in attendances to urgent care was noted. This was achieved without impacting other eye services, by advising the referrers and redirecting referrals appropriately. At the same time the appropriateness of the attendances to our emergency clinic improved from 32% to 68%. Using a digital platform for referrals and data collection allowed up to continuously perform service evaluation.

Conclusion

The forward-online triage and our close relationship with community enabled a safe continuation of providing emergency eye care locally. The controlled booked attendance as well as the advice and guidance system enabled us to prioritise true emergencies.