Virtual follow-up clinic for elective shoulder surgery: a safe and cost effective model

Virtual follow-up clinics are being increasingly used in orthopaedics, but their use in elective upper limb follow-up has not been extensively developed. This paper presents a successful model of virtual elective shoulder follow-up. One hundred and forty-two (70%) of the patients treated were discharged following the virtual clinic and only eight (4%) required consultant follow-up. Of those originally discharged, six (4%) needed further physiotherapy and one (0.7%) required consultant follow-up. Virtual follow-up clinics also made a profit of £6,700 for the hospital. Virtual elective shoulder follow-up is a safe and cost effective method of follow-up for shoulder manipulation under anaesthetic and subacromial decompression. With the optimisation of clinician time and financial benefits, is it time to update traditional pathways for postoperative clinics?