Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust have redesigned their pathway of patient care relating musculoskeletal injuries in order to reduce the number of secondary care appointments, prevent surgical interventions and reduce hospital admissions.
One of the biggest changes in the redesign has been redirecting referrals from the acute to community services. This has resulted in:
1) Patients being directed to see a podiatrist at one of their community centres, rather than the orthopaedic foot and ankle team at Torbay Hospital.
2) The department experiencing an increase in the number of patients seen across all sub specialisms. The number of patients seen by the community podiatrists has risen from 10 – 30 patients per month in 2016, to currently in the region of 150 – 250 patients each month.
So, how are the community podiatry teams coping with this increase?
The answer is by using video.
The MSK team now direct patients to specific exercise videos as part of their treatment plan.
Videos in this category include foot care and diabetes, toe nail surgery, foot care and preventing pressure ulcers, general foot care, and foot care for professionals.
Patients are being directed to the videos held on the Trust’s website but they are also being shown on waiting room TV screens, in general clinics and assessments using tablets, and even during surgery itself.
In summary the nail surgery team have seen some incredible results:
· 10 minute reduction in time per appointment 
· A fall in the number of queries to the department about re-dressing
· A reduction in the number of follow up appointments for re-dressing
· Increased capacity to see more patients, resulting in shorter waiting times.
· Only 3.9% of visits result in further treatment by the acute or Healthy Lifestyles team.
· Improved compliance as the video can be watched by the patients in their own time, at their own pace.
· Reduced costs associated with printing leaflets and time saved
Su Stewart, Podiatrist at Torbay & South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, explains “From our point of view, it is really helpful to back up written and verbal advice with the videos as we feel there is more chance of information being absorbed. They are a great resource to be able to recommend to patients and their carers.”
She continues “The post-op nail surgery video saves us about 4 minutes per nail surgery patient. It is good because then after the surgery, although some of the advice is reiterated, we can then focus on giving sepsis and VTE advice, and the patient knows they can watch the video again if they need to.”
What the patients say…
“Patients have verbally informed me that they found the video helpful’ says Su, “I find it useful if I get phone calls post operatively to be able to re-direct patients to the videos which also backs up what I tell them verbally”
Some patient comments:
· “Helpful, it was good to distract me {watching it} during nail surgery”
· Patient’s Mum: “I didn’t know any of it, so found them really useful” (this mum hadn’t attended the assessment)
· “Really good. I now know exactly what to do. Seeing it makes it more real whereas if we were just told it would have been in one ear and out the other”
· “Very good, helpful. Lots of information. It talks to us in layman’s terms. Took my mind off things”
No other resources have been required by the team to cope with the extra 140 + patients a month thanks to the introduction of our valuable videos, proving them a cost-effective solution to increase capacity and reduce demand.
If you’d like to find out how you can use video or our existing video libraries to help redesign your current pathway of care, visit www.healthandcarevideos.com for more details or call us on 01626 833937.
