title: The short-term health outcome of out-patient rheumatology consultations in relation to rationing: a pilot study.
abstract: The objectives were to test whether the short-term health outcome of rheumatology out-patients differs according to clinical priority. The setting was an NHS regional rheumatology out-patient department serving a catchment population of over 1 million. The subjects were 249 consecutive rheumatology out-patients categorized on the basis of the referral letter as 'urgent' (n = 50), 'soon' (n = 100) or 'routine' (n = 99). Primary outcome measures were the proportion of patients reporting improvement in health categorized by clinical priority (urgent, soon or routine) or main diagnostic group (inflammatory or non-inflammatory disease). Secondary outcome was change in health status measured using the EuroQol generic health instrument (EQ-5D). Small but insignificant differences in the proportion of patients reporting health improvement were found between the urgent (28%), soon (23%) and routine (17%) categories (Kruskal-Wallis, P = 0.186). Thirty per cent of patients with inflammatory joint disease reported improvement compared with 17% of those with non-inflammatory conditions (Mann-Whitney U, P = 0.019). In patients reporting improvement, the median (interquartile range) improvement in EQ-5D health utility score was +0.2 (0.58) (P = 0.0001) and that of visual analogue health score was +5 (16) (P = 0.001). Clinical priority setting, by giving priority to some patients over others, results in rationing by delay. These data do not support the hypothesis that fewer patients given a low clinical priority gain health benefit compared with those given a high priority. However, those with inflammatory joint disease do appear to have better short-term health outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh.
authors.forename: N P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Hurst
authors.forename: E R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: McRorie
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015276:Health Care Rationing / Q000379:methods*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012216:Rheumatic Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D012219:Rheumatology / Q000379:methods*; D012606:Scotland; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires