ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2005
Does the North Staffordshire slot system control demand of orthopaedic referrals from primary care?: A population-based survey in general practice.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2005. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Referral interventions from primary to specialist care: a systematic review of international evidence.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2014Pooled it
- Interventions to improve outpatient referrals from primary care to secondary care.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2008Pooled it
- Surgery or consultation: a population-based cohort study of use of orthopaedic surgeon services.PloS one · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAttempts to manage general practice demand for orthopaedic outpatient consultations have been made in several areas of the NHS, with little robust evidence on whether or not they work.
aimTo evaluate the effect of the North Staffordshire 'orthopaedic slot system' on the demand for general practice referrals to orthopaedic outpatients.
methodA prospective study of 12 general practices in the slot system, 24 controls, and the 63 other general practices in North Staffordshire. Comparison periods were the baseline year (0); the first calendar year (1); and the first half of the second calendar year (2). A multifactor linear regression model was used.
resultsMean referral rate decreased 22% in the slot group in period 1, and was maintained in period 2 (9.40, 7.29, 7.31 referrals per 10,000 population per month for periods 0, 1 and 2, respectively). The control and other groups showed a small decrease in period 1, but in period 2 higher referral rates were observed. The reduction in referrals of 20-40% in participating practices compared to other practices equates to 2-4 referrals per 10,000 patients per month.
conclusionsOur study suggests that practices willing and able to take up an offer of a slot system for managing their orthopaedic referrals will be able to significantly reduce referral rates for their patients when compared to similar practices who do not. Further research on the generalisability, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of such systems is warranted.
Indexed as
Identifiers
16176738PMC1464070What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.