Haematology outreach clinics in the Free State and northern Cape.
OBJECTIVE
Evaluation of haematology outreach clinics in the Northern Cape and Free State.


METHODS
Retrospective analysis of records from March 1994 to February 1996.


METHODS
Central South Africa is sparsely populated. Consultants from Bloemfontein held outpatient clinics in hospitals (with laboratories) in Bethlehem, Kimberley and Kroonstad.


METHODS
117 patients with suspected haematological disease.


METHODS
Input measures (population, number of clinics and costs), process measures (patient numbers, patients per clinic, new consultations per clinic, patients' domicile, how they were referred, types of diagnoses and number of patients with non-haematological disorders) and output measures (attrition, changes in attendance and savings).


RESULTS
The 84 clinics that were held, with 636 consultations, did not cost the State anything. Only 6% of the 117 patients had no haematological problem. Sixty-eight per cent had chronic haematological neoplasms. In Kimberley most of the patients came from Kimberley Hospital, while most of the patients at the other clinics were referred via Bloemfontein. There was only a 10% attrition rate and only one-third of patients were referred to Bloemfontein. We saved paying patients an estimated R21,260 in transport costs, while saving the State R172,992 by seeing patients at secondary, instead of tertiary, hospitals.


CONCLUSIONS
It is cheaper to send a doctor to an outreach clinic than to refer patients to a central facility, provided there is enough work for a doctor at the clinic. It costs the State much less for patients to be seen at a secondary than a tertiary hospital. Positive spin-offs include academic stimulation of doctors and laboratories in the periphery, with more appropriate referrals to teaching hospitals. Weaknesses include poor availability of expensive drugs at the clinics and lack of standardised records. By commuting to outreach clinics, specialists can greatly reduce health expenditure and spread it from tertiary to lower levels. At the same time more patients have access to their services.
Department of Haematology, University of the Orange Free State, Bloemfontein.
M J
MJ
Coetzee
P N
PN
Badenhorst
E P
EP
le Loux
M J
MJ
Doman
D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006402:Hematologic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D010360:Patient Transfer / Q000191:economics; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013019:South Africa