AB259. SOH26AB_0475. A 10-month audit of the virtual fracture assessment clinic (vFAC) in St. Vincent’s University Hospital (SVUH)
Orthopaedic Posters

AB259. SOH26AB_0475. A 10-month audit of the virtual fracture assessment clinic (vFAC) in St. Vincent’s University Hospital (SVUH)

Sarah O’Farrell, Ursula Kelleher, Joseph Slowey, James Broderick

Department of Trauma and Orthopaedics, St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland

Background: The St. Vincent’s University Hospital (SVUH) virtual fracture assessment clinic (vFAC) service was formalised in August 2024 with the introduction of a clinical specialist physiotherapist. Previously, patients attended the fracture clinic to access physiotherapy/nursing interventions. The aim of this audit was to review compliance with the National Clinical Programme (NCP) key performance indicators (KPIs) over a 10-month period and to audit a snapshot of the vFAC outcomes over a 4-month period, based on the updated National vFAC data collection spreadsheet.

Methods: A retrospective audit of all vFAC referrals between 01/09/24 and 30/06/2025 was performed. Additional service data were gathered and measured after a change to the spreadsheet between 01/03/25 and 30/06/25. Data were measured using Excel.

Results: A total of 1,272 patients were referred to vFAC over the 10-month period. KPI 1–100% (n=1,272) of patients referred to vFAC were reviewed within 72 hours of presentation to the emergency department/intervention unit. KPI 2–76% (n=903) of patients were referred to the fracture clinic after review in vFAC. An average of 20% of patients were referred to physiotherapy. KPI 3–4% (n=45) of vFAC cases were referred directly to surgery. Secondary vFAC outcomes between 01/03/25 and 30/06/25: n=100. Discharge over the phone: n=13 (13%); follow-up with physiotherapist: n=72 (72%); refer to fracture clinic: n=7 (7%); and failure to contact: n=8 (8%). Upper limb: n=348 (75%); lower limb: n=118 (25%); and DNA rate: n=59 (5%).

Conclusions: There has been compliance with KPIs 1 and 3 since formalising the service. Further improvements are required to achieve KPI 2. An increase in physiotherapy referrals was noted since this change, as well as a reduction in the number of patients requiring urgent surgical intervention.

Keywords: Clinical specialist physiotherapist; fracture management; key performance indicators (KPIs); physiotherapy; virtual fracture assessment clinic (vFAC)

Acknowledgments

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Footnote

Funding: None.

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

doi: 10.21037/map-26-ab259
Cite this abstract as: O’Farrell S, Kelleher U, Slowey J, Broderick J. AB259. SOH26AB_0475. A 10-month audit of the virtual fracture assessment clinic (vFAC) in St. Vincent’s University Hospital (SVUH). Mesentery Peritoneum 2026;10:AB259.

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