Barts Children’s Orthopaedic Outreach Programme (COOP):
Bringing Children’s Bone, Muscle and Joint Care Closer to Home
Summary
The number of children with common bone, muscle and joint problems of the lower limb, such as clubfeet, dislocated hips and cerebral palsy that require specialist assessment and intervention is increasing at Barts Health, primarily due to expertise becoming increasingly concentrated in specialist children’s hospitals and the recently increased catchment area. Specialised multidisciplinary input is required for these children, incorporating orthopaedic surgeons and specialist physiotherapists, with outcomes being recorded prospectively in condition-specific databases.
We are setting up a novel multidisciplinary ‘Children’s Orthopaedic Outreach Programme - COOP’ to assess and treat children in North East London with initiation of treatment at Barts and The London Children’s Hospital in the paediatric orthopaedic service and subsequent follow-up in outreach clinics, in local hospitals or within schools in North East London. Our primary goal is to reduce the inconvenience for patients and parents/carers, specifically with follow-ups being brought closer to home, with flow of problematic patients back into the specialist paediatric orthopaedic centre at Barts and The London Children’s Hospital. Our secondary goals are to reduce the frequency of follow-ups required in the specialist hospital and to establish a prospective database for these groups of patients. No similar peripatetic children's orthopaedic service exists in the UK currently.
Press
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/pioneering_barts_health_medics_set_up_clinics_in_community_1_2972867http://www.bartshealth.nhs.uk/media/press-releases/2013/november/new-childrens-team-brings-care-closer/
Bringing Children’s Bone, Muscle and Joint Care Closer to Home
Summary
The number of children with common bone, muscle and joint problems of the lower limb, such as clubfeet, dislocated hips and cerebral palsy that require specialist assessment and intervention is increasing at Barts Health, primarily due to expertise becoming increasingly concentrated in specialist children’s hospitals and the recently increased catchment area. Specialised multidisciplinary input is required for these children, incorporating orthopaedic surgeons and specialist physiotherapists, with outcomes being recorded prospectively in condition-specific databases.
We are setting up a novel multidisciplinary ‘Children’s Orthopaedic Outreach Programme - COOP’ to assess and treat children in North East London with initiation of treatment at Barts and The London Children’s Hospital in the paediatric orthopaedic service and subsequent follow-up in outreach clinics, in local hospitals or within schools in North East London. Our primary goal is to reduce the inconvenience for patients and parents/carers, specifically with follow-ups being brought closer to home, with flow of problematic patients back into the specialist paediatric orthopaedic centre at Barts and The London Children’s Hospital. Our secondary goals are to reduce the frequency of follow-ups required in the specialist hospital and to establish a prospective database for these groups of patients. No similar peripatetic children's orthopaedic service exists in the UK currently.
Press
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/pioneering_barts_health_medics_set_up_clinics_in_community_1_2972867http://www.bartshealth.nhs.uk/media/press-releases/2013/november/new-childrens-team-brings-care-closer/
