Aim
To improve patient access to the most appropriate clinical care and streamline care pathways.
Benefits
Integrating multidisciplinary health services into a clearly defined model of care with well-defined pathways of care:
- increased patient access to ENT services
- reduced patient waiting times
- released consultant capacity to see higher acuity/more complex patients and/or to perform more surgery
- increased patient and staff satisfaction
Background
Since 2013 the Logan Hospital in the Metro South Hospital and Health Service (MSHHS) has experienced what was considered within MSHHS to be unsustainable growth in the numbers of patients being referred for an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) outpatient appointment. The existing model of specialist outpatient care required review and change if it was to have any chance of meeting emergent demand.
Potential solutions to address the issues of demand for ENT services included utilising advanced allied health practitioners as primary contact practitioners working to their full and/or extended scope of practice, to improve timely patient access to appropriate and quality healthcare.
By January 2016 following review of contemporary evidence and with additional funding, an Integrated Specialist ENT Service was implemented which incorporated ENT medical staff, the Advanced ENT allied health practitioner service including an audiologist, speech pathologist and vestibular physiotherapist; an allied health assistant; general practitioner (GP) trainees with a special interest in ENT, nursing and administration staff.
