Specialist oral surgery services
You are providing dental public health advice to the health service commissioners in Xshire. Your boss has made you aware that the waiting times for specialist oral surgery services are a cause for concern as they are exceeding national targets. The current patient pathway is shown below and is supported by referral criteria which are 10 years old. Your boss has asked you to review the current pathway and suggest ways in which the pathway can be improved with particular emphasis on reducing the waiting times for treatment.
The current pathway is as follows:
Please answer the following:
1) Describe the pathway and its strengths and weaknesses
2) What changes would you recommend and why?
3) Describe the steps you would take as part of redesigning this pathway
You should suggest a new scheme and give explanation and rationale why it is better than previous pathway.