Development and evaluation of a one-stop surgical outpatient clinic to tackle waiting lists

Background/Aims The COVID-19 pandemic caused substantial disruption to elective surgery, with NHS trusts still trying to work through their backlogs and reduce waiting lists. This study aimed to design, implement and evaluate a novel one-stop general surgical outpatient clinic to tackle long waiting lists post COVID-19. Methods General surgical outpatient clinics were held on 6 days between April and October 2021. The impact of these clinics was retrospectively measured using data collected from the trust's electronic database on the length of waiting lists, number of weeks before appointment and financial expenditure associated with the project. Results There were 1440 fewer patients on the outpatient waiting list after the clinics were implemented compared to before, with a 100% reduction in the number of patients waiting longer than 52 weeks for an appointment. Across the six clinic days, 93.7% of available slots were booked and patients attended 90.5% of booked slots. A net financial benefit of £128 700 was calculated. Conclusions Lessons from this project could be applied in other specialties and NHS trusts to tackle waiting lists and outpatient clinic backlog post COVID-19.