PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ivan LeJeune
AU  - Rebecca JA Sims
AU  - Hugh Porter
AU  - Guy Mansford
AU  - Anastasios G Gazis
TI  - What is the effect of re-introducing a clinical conversation into urgent referral pathways?
AID  - 10.7861/futurehosp.4-2-134
DP  - 2017 Jun 01
TA  - Future Hospital Journal
PG  - 134--137
VI  - 4
IP  - 2
4099  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/4/2/134.short
4100  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/4/2/134.full
SO  - Future Hosp J2017 Jun 01; 4
AB  - Demand for assessment at the acute medicine receiving unit (AMRU) regularly exceeded the capacity of the AMRU to assess and treat in a timely way. Audit work suggested that 28% of patients arriving could have had their care delivered in an alternative setting by a service that was already available. The system of referral was redesigned to re-introduce a mandatory GP to consultant clinical conversation to enable navigation of patients to the most appropriate clinical setting. This has relieved pressure on the AMRU and means that patients are directed to the right clinical setting, first time, more of the time. The numbers of patients presenting to the AMRU following such a conversation who could have had care delivered in an alternative setting has dropped below 5%. The ambulatory care rate for the AMRU has been maintained at 43%.