AB174. 44. Piloting outpatient surgery—minor operations in Wexford

Background: The direct referral minor operations clinic in Wexford General Hospital (WGH) was established in 2012 with the aim of providing a rapid access pathway for GPs to refer patients requiring minor surgical procedures such as the excision of skin lesions. It was designed to benefit patients by reducing waiting times for the procedures as well reducing demand on Surgical Outpatient Department (OPD) and theatre in WGH.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of prospectively recorded data of patients seen in the minor operations clinic between January 2015 and July 2017. Data included numbers of procedures performed, attendance rates and numbers of patients cancelled.

Results: A total of 1,043 patients were referred to the clinic during this period. Of them, 822 (78.8%) underwent a minor surgical procedure. Rate of non-attendance was 7.7%. Of the procedures not carried out, 1.56% of patients declined treatment on the day. Thirteen percent of patients referred were cancelled on the day by the surgeon. Reasons for cancellation included those patients who required a procedure performed in main theatre, those requiring further evaluation in surgical OPD or specialist referral, and those who did not require any procedure.

Conclusions: Our direct referral, “See-and-Treat”, minor operations pathway provides a streamlined service that allows rapid access for patients requiring minor procedures.

Keywords: Service improvement; outpatient surgery; pilot; See-and-Treat