A Completed-cycle Local Audit of Patient Load in the SHO-led ENT Casualty Clinic

Background The investigators' centre runs a regular ENT casualty clinic, run by an SHO, for rapid assessment and treatment of simple, acute ENT cases. ENT UK guidelines from 2017 recommend that no more than 6 patients be booked for an SHO to see during a 4-hour clinic session. This study aims to assess whether this centre meets those guidelines.

Method Data was retrospectively collected from MedWay, the centre's networked booking system. The number of patients booked for each ENT casualty clinic was counted over a period of two months. This was repeated two months after intervention to close the loop.

Result In the first cycle, 2 out of 22 clinics (9%) were found to be compliant with guidelines. Our intervention was to inform clinic booking staff of the guidelines. In the second cycle, 20 of 24 clinics were compliant (83%).

Discussion Anecdotally, prior to intervention, SHOs would often struggle to keep up with the casualty clinic caseload, and clinics would overrun. Clinic booking staff were not previously aware of ENT UK guidelines, and the number of clinic slots was set arbitrarily. This was easily and effectively resolved by educating staff. It can be learned that de facto management practice is not always based on guidelines or evidence; and highlights the importance of auditing all aspects of how organisations are run. Further quality improvement studies should focus on what happens to patients who can no longer be fit into existing casualty clinics.