Are rapid access cardiology clinics a valued part of a district cardiology service?

Rapid‐access cardiology services: can these reduce the burden of acute chest pain on Australian and New Zealand health services?

“…A few services have reported feedback from patients and local referrers about the RAC services they provide . In general, acceptability is high, and the large majority of patients and referrers find the services reliable and the information provided satisfactory, and few required repeat GP consultations for the same problem.…”

“…Reduction in hospitalisations are likely to have added benefits, in addition to cost reduction, in improving overall patient health through decreasing risk of hospital‐associated complications, for example, hospital‐acquired infections and the psychosocial impact of hospital admission. In addition, our review found that medical practitioners and patients have viewed this approach positively, and thus, the demand for these clinics in the UK is high.…”

Liaison neurologists facilitate accurate neurological diagnosis and management, resulting in substantial savings in the cost of inpatient care

“…In a modern healthcare system, 'worldclass' patient care is not served by asking a neurologist to manage acute Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, and, similarly, patients with, e.g., migraine or seizures that are severe enough to present to the ED deserve urgent neurologist assessment and streamlined care. Urgent access to specialist services has been shown to improve outcome in patients with various medical conditions [5,6], and neurology is no exception. Neurology development would reduce the burden on our busy general medical and surgical specialist colleagues who have to deal with patients with a myriad of neurological presentations, often without any formal neurological training.…”

A survey on the latest NICE guidance for diagnosis of chest pain: A challenge to NICE

“…Chest pain is a common symptom and is often referred to Rapid access chest pain clinics (RACPCs) [1][2][3]. Exercise ECG testing was pivotal in diagnosing ischaemic heart disease and has been supported by an extensive body of research, though its positive predictive value has been variable [4].…”

“…Shorter door-to-balloon (DTB) times have been shown to minimize infarct size, improve left ventricular function and improve longterm survival [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10].…”