How things work – Patient’s Pathway

Triage

The main benefit of the VFC is that we can triage you to the correct clinician/surgeon from the start. We can also bring you back to the clinics on the correct timescale, preventing unnecessary appointments and delays.

Diagnosis

Most of the patients that are referred to our department have an initial triage before they are called to attend our clinics. This mostly happens via the Virtual Fracture Clinic (VFC) which is led by a consultant and a nurse. They review the information included in the referral and all available imaging or other information to the systems of the hospital. The diagnosis is surprisingly often clear on the first X-rays or from the existing information in the hospital notes. Sometimes it is less clear, which may lead them to phone the patient to ask a few questions if need to. The VFC team gives an initial diagnosis and also creates a plan of further action for each referred patient. 

Further Investigations

Sometimes the Orthopaedic Consultant in charge of the VFC will want further investigations before we see you in the clinic, such as a scan. We may wish to arrange these scans from the VFC without the need for an unnecessary clinic appointment.

Outpatient Appointment

Patients attending our outpatient department are asked to check in with a member of our reception team, this will allow the hospital to keep up-to-date with the demographic details of the patient so that the patient can be contacted if required.

Following this, the patient will then be seen by the consultant that they are under the care of. This will involve discussing the patient’s injury and possible treatments.

Once the course of treatment has been agreed upon the patient may require a cast, surgical fixation, or a wound assessment, which will be carried out by a member of our supporting nurses or plaster technicians. A further appointment will also be agreed upon between the patient and consultant which will then be booked onto the hospital system with our receptionists.

Physiotherapy

The medical team may feel that a patient will benefit from a period of physiotherapy. If a patient is referred to physiotherapy their referral will be completed via an online system at ppm and will be then reviewed by the central physiotherapy department. Once this has been done, the physio department will be in touch will the patient to arrange for their sessions.