Samantha Waters and Adam Fox
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
Through close working relationships between Cardiff and Vale UHB and the South East Wales Vascular network, it has come to light that the Vascular consultants receive a significant number of referrals that are not pertinent to urgent/routine secondary care vascular input. These patients currently have a wait of 58 weeks on the routine vascular waiting list. Hence, this means that without expert assessment and treatment planning there is potential for a higher rate of chronic complications in this patient cohort. As well as potential delay in urgent case review due to the waiting list demand.
This project proposes that the Vascular Consultants have the ability at triage to re-direct referrals triaged as ‘routine’ lower limb PAD patients to the Podiatry team. CAV UHB Podiatry will accept these referrals and ensure they are reviewed in an appropriate Vascular screening clinic with Podiatrists experienced in vascular assessment and chairside vascular diagnostics. We estimate that the wait for these appointments would be around 6-8 weeks.
Podiatry is very well placed with the capacity and expert clinical knowledge to accept these referrals for 12 months and run this project to prove the concept. Utilising Podiatry as part of the wider multidisciplinary lower limb team as highlighted in the A Best Practice Clinical Care Pathway for Peripheral Arterial Disease (Vascular Society, 2022).
There will be a robust clinical pathway that will build into it a data capture and digital pathway. Data will be collected from triage, Podiatry Vascular assessment and diagnostic outcome. All patients will have a thorough vascular assessment and tailored plan provided based on their clinical outcome. This project also has the potential to spread and scale to improve patient care across the South East Wales Vascular Network and beyond.
Samantha Waters, Highly Specialist Podiatrist and Project Lead
