An analysis of clinical activity, admission rates, length of hospital stay, and economic impact after a temporary loss of 50% of the non-operative podiatrists from a tertiary specialist foot clinic in the United Kingdom

摘要

IntroductionPodiatrists form an integral part of the multidisciplinary foot team in the treatment of diabetic foot–related complications. A set of unforeseen circumstances within our specialist diabetes foot service in the United Kingdom caused a loss of 50% of our non-operative podiatry team for almost 7 months during 2010. Some of this time was filled by non-specialist community non-operative podiatrists.MethodsWe assessed the economic impact of this loss by examining data for the 5 years prior to this 7-month interruption, and for the 2 years after ‘normal service’ was resumed.ResultsOur data show that the loss of the non-operative podiatrists led to a significant rise in the numbers of admissions into hospital, and hospital length of stay also increased. At our institution a single bed day cost is ￡275. During the time that the numbers of specialist non-operative podiatry staff were depleted, and for up to 6 months after they returned to normal activities, the extra costs increased by just less than ￡...