How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected orthotic services in the United Kingdom?

Eddison, Nicola, HEALY, Aoife and CHOCKALINGAM, Nachiappan (2021) How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected orthotic services in the United Kingdom? Prosthetics & Orthotics International, 45 (5). pp. 373-377. ISSN 0309-3646

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Abstract or description

Background: COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the National Health Service in the United Kingdom (UK).

Objective: The study aimed to determine the impact of COVID-19 on orthotic services in the UK.

Study design: Cross sectional survey

Methods: An online survey was distributed to UK orthotists approximately 6 months after the first peak of COVID-19. Descriptive statistics of results, related to appointment waiting times, disruption of services, introduction of telehealth appointments and clinicians’ opinions on the impact of COVID-19 was completed.
Results: 77 orthotists completed the survey with many reporting their service was closed or open only to in-/urgent patients at some point during the pandemic. There was substantial variation in appointment waiting times, time allocated per appointment, and increases in lead times for orthotic products across services. Over 90% reported utilising telehealth appointments. Results were comparable to previous research showing long appointment waiting times and indicated that the pandemic has added to this issue.

Conclusions: The pandemic has had a significant impact on orthotic services with face-to-face appointments largely reserved for urgent patients and inpatients, and services going through stages of closing and reopening, alongside the introduction of telehealth to ensure less urgent patients could continue to access orthotic care. Future service evaluation studies are required to further assess how orthotic services have been affected by the pandemic and the effectiveness of recovery plans.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	“This is an Accepted Manuscript version of the following article, Eddison, Nicola, Healy, Aoife, Chockalingam, Nachiappan How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected orthotic services in the United Kingdom?, Prosthetics and Orthotics International: October 2021 - Volume 45 - Issue 5 - p 373-377 doi: 10.1097/PXR.0000000000000031. It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.”
Uncontrolled Keywords:	orthotics , COVID-19 , service delivery
Faculty:	School of Life Sciences and Education > Sport and Exercise
Depositing User:	Aoife HEALY
Date Deposited:	14 Oct 2021 12:32
Last Modified:	24 Feb 2023 14:02
URI:	https://eprints.staffs.ac.uk/id/eprint/7046

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