The Orthopaedic Podiatry Triage Clinic (OPodTC) is a collaborative model of screening and triage by the podiatrist in an attempt to address the problem of long waiting times for orthopaedic surgery on conditions of the foot and ankle. Some orthopaedic surgery referrals to public hospitals can be identified and treated by podiatrists, averting the need for more costly and invasive surgical procedures. It was trialled in three hospitals in Queensland in 2009 and 2010, and the results were published in the Journal of the Australian Healthcare & Hospitals Association in September 2012.

Interested in seeing what the results were? It’s shaping up to be a good model of practice….

The non-urgent waiting list across the three hospitals was reduced by between 23.3% to 49.7%. Patients identified by the OPodTC podiatrist as suitable for conservative management were provided with non-surgical podiatry treatment and discharged where appropriate. Those who still required surgical intervention or who chose to remain on the list were returned to their previous place on the orthopaedic waiting list.

So where to from here? In the future, there is the possibility that this model may be more widely used in the hospital system, which is really quite exciting!!

To see what else has been happening in podiatry in Australia, click here.