Cutting waiting times

Dr Shyamal
Mukherjee

Two weeks is the clinically appropriate time frame for sufferers of ‘Wet’ Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) to receive their first intraocular injection. Patients in Wirral, northwest England, were waiting up to three months.

The role for Map of Medicine

Wirral PCT, recently accredited as an AMD Treatment Centre, used Map of Medicine as the basis of a service redesign to overcome issues of inequality of treatment, capacity constraints and other service shortcomings.

Milestones

• The service re-design was accomplished in around six weeks. The rapid turnaround was achieved with the assistance of a specially formed Ophthalmology clinical sub group. This model is being replicated across other clinical workstreams
• The local Pathway was then published via the web and embedded within Map of Medicine to support its dissemination across the community.

Challenges

With patients waiting up to six times longer than clinically appropriate, speed was the major challenge – rapidly designing a robust referral and treatment pathway, then publishing and promoting it.

Results

Treatment times are now within the guidelines. In the first year, over 300 patients were seen and treated within the recommended two weeks.
The new pathway is also delivering savings of around £200,000 p.a. for a cost significantly lower than alternative providers can offer.

Wirral is using the Map as an enabler for further pathway redesigns.