PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Gurdev S Deogon AU - Tim Robbins AU - Manpal S Randeva AU - Ioannis Kyrou AU - Sailesh Sankar AU - Harpal S Randeva AU - Narasimha Murthy TI - Managing high-acuity outpatient services during the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons from the acute diabetes foot service AID - 10.7861/fhj.2020-0054 DP - 2020 Oct 01 TA - Future Healthcare Journal PG - e77--e79 VI - 7 IP - 3 4099 - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/7/3/e77.short 4100 - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/7/3/e77.full SO - Future Healthc J2020 Oct 01; 7 AB - COVID-19 has created unprecedented challenges for healthcare services internationally. Many NHS organisations have cancelled outpatient clinics to release frontline clinical staff and minimise risk of patients contracting COVID-19. While many outpatient services manage chronic diseases, a number of services manage high-acuity patients. Delivery of these acute outpatient services during the pandemic has posed particular challenges and required significant service model reconfiguration. The acute diabetes foot clinic is an important example of such a service. We explore the important lessons learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic for managing high-acuity outpatient services through the context of the diabetic foot clinic. Learning can be divided into the following categories: remote and digital working, physical changes in service delivery, workforce challenges and post-pandemic preparedness. This learning is applicable to a wide range of high-acuity services during and following the pandemic. It is particularly relevant as we expand outpatient care provision to avoid hospital admissions.