Watch the video to hear from Dr. Dan Williams, a surgeon at RCHT, and a patient to learn more about the benefits of using a virtual clinic follow-up pathway and its potential for chronic conditions beyond orthopaedics.

What are virtual Clinics and why are they important?

National guidelines recommend that patients are followed up at 1, 7, 10 and 13 years after joint replacement surgery. At these points, a surgeon would check X-ray films and assess reported pain and function. Most patients have no problems, but for a minority these follow-up assessments are important opportunities to identify issues that require attention.

Traditionally, patients come to the hospital for all their follow-up appointments and for some people this can be a considerable inconvenience and expense, especially if it is just to tell a surgeon that they are doing well.

Under the new ‘virtual clinic’ follow-up pathway, patients can opt to have X-rays done at a community clinic local to them, and complete hip and knee scores at home using MCO. The X-ray films and scores are then assessed by a surgeon in a virtual clinic, and they can then report back to the patient and their GP.

More information about the partnership between RCHT and the MCO platform can be found in an article published by The Health Foundation.