NEWSFLASH!
“Point of Care D-dimer testing has been rolled out across the practices in Derbyshire and in the initial 3 weeks since the roll out, 66% of the patients assessed as being ‘unlikely’ to have a DVT following the Wells score, had a normal D-dimer result and have not needed to be referred to hospital.”
Derbyshire County and Derby City PCTs jointly funded the Derbyshire Map of Medicine pathway project for six months between December 2010 and May 2011.
During the project five pathways were ‘localised’ including the DVT pathway in which primary care colleagues identified room for improvement in the patient experience and in terms of clinical and cost effectiveness.
The pathway has since been re-designed so that patients will have a clinical assessment, and a risk score will be completed (Wells score). Patients assessed as being at low risk of having a DVT will have the D-Dimer test in the Primary Care setting, such as a GP practice. This will reduce the number of patients who need to go on to have this test in hospital or in other acute centres by up to 49%.
See the document below for fullreport on innovation in pathway.
