Background: Inflammatory arthritis is associated with significant morbidity and costs to the NHS, social care, and wider economy. Early diagnosis and treatment are essential to reduce the impact of the disease. Therefore, it is important that referrals for a new inflammatory arthritis are appropriately triaged to be seen in the early inflammatory arthritis (EIA) clinic so that they can be seen and started on disease modifying anti-rheumatoid drugs (DMARDs) without delay. The British Society of Rheumatology guidance for inflammatory arthritis states that patients must be seen within three weeks of referral and started on DMARDs within six weeks.

Objectives: To evaluate how effectively people referred with a new EIA are currently being triaged.

To evaluate whether we are meeting the national standards.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of the medical notes of all new patients who were seen in the EIA clinic from 01/09/21-31/11/21. During this same time period, we will also reviewed all the patients who had been newly diagnosed and started on a DMARD in the other Rheumatology clinics (e.g., general rheumatology, vasculitis).

We collected data on referral date, referral source (e.g., GP), date of clinic assessment, clinic type (e.g., EIA clinic or other Rheumatology clinic), diagnoses made, days’ wait from referral to assessment and days’ wait from referral to commencing DMARD.

We then calculated the conversion rate (percentage of referrals triaged to the EIA clinic that have an EIA) and detection rate (percentage of new EIA patients that are seen in the EIA clinic (as opposed to in non-urgent clinics)). The standard for conversation rate (CR) was 50% and for detection rate (DR) was 95%.

Results: Of all the patients seen in the EIA clinic (n=73), 36 had a new diagnosis of an EIA, giving a CR of 49%. Of all the new diagnoses of EIA made during that time-period (n=53), 36 were appropriately triaged to be seen in the EIA clinic, giving a detection rate 68%. Those new referrals who had been appropriately seen in the EIA clinic had an average of 5 weeks wait from referral to assessment/ commencement of DMARD. In contrast, those new referrals who had been seen in other clinics had an average of 10 weeks from referral to assessment/ commencement of DMARD.

A previous audit performed before the COVID-19 pandemic (01/11/19- 01/01/20) showed a CR of 25% (115 patients seen in EIA clinic, 29 new diagnoses) and a DR of 69% (29 new diagnoses, 20 seen in EIA clinic).

Conclusion: Those patients with a new EIA who are appropriately seen in the EIA clinic do not meet the national guidance for being seen within three weeks of referral but do meet the guidance for starting a DMARD withing six weeks. However, those new EIA who are seen outside the EIA clinic do not meet either of these standards, with a delay of 10 weeks to be seen/ started on a DMARD. Given that only 68% of people with a new EIA are being correctly triaged to be seen in the EIA clinics, it highlights that there is a need for an improvement in the triage process (currently being done manually by Rheumatologists). Interestingly, when comparing our findings to the audit done pre-COVID-19 pandemic, the CR has improved whilst the DR has stayed steady. The next steps include exploring using additional data collected from patients electronically to improve the CR/ DR rates, as well as artificial intelligence informed modelling.

Disclosure of Interests: None declared