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Rheumatology 2007 46(11):1631-1633; doi:10.1093/rheumatology/kem277
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

EDITORIAL

Is it ever appropriate to discharge patients with rheumatoid arthritis?

M. Bukhari1, A. N. Bamji2 and C. Deighton3

1Department of Rheumatology, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust, UK, 2Department of Rheumatology, Queen Mary's Hospital, UK and 3Department of Rheumatology, Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, London Road, Derby, Derbyshire, UK, DE1 2QY

Correspondence to: M. Bukhari, Department of Rheumatology, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust, UK. E-mail: marwan.bukhari@mbht.nhs.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Once upon a time there was a British rheumatologist who thought that he ran a very good outpatient service. When it came to determining when and whether to follow-up a patient, he made a judgement based on two factors:

  1. How bad the patient's ongoing musculoskeletal problem was, and
  2. The availability of clinic slots.
Now this rheumatologist had been lucky, because when his post started a few years ago, it was a brand new job. Consequently, he was able to slot patients in for review very flexibly. However, his workload had built up; each year added another 50–80 patients with inflammatory arthritis that needed specialist supervision. Available review slots were becoming more distant, even though he tried to discharge as many patients as he could. When he audited his new patient attendances he confirmed that most non-inflammatory joint problems were dealt with on a ‘one-stop’ basis and it was patients with . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Conclusion


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P. Prouse, J. Reeback, N. Betteridge, and on behalf of ARMA Board of Trustees
Comment on: Is it ever appropriate to discharge patients with rheumatoid arthritis?
Rheumatology, May 1, 2008; 47(5): 741 - 741.
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