E020 Osteoporosis service improvement audit
Authors: Taheri Sadaf , Suresh Resmy , Burton Jessica , Adil Syed , Ahmed Tazeen , Horwood Natalie , Sathananthan Rosh 
Published: April 2024

Background/Aims

Osteoporosis referrals are sent to rheumatology departments for consideration of parenteral treatments in those who are unable to tolerate oral bisphosphonates or have failed treatment. The rheumatology services at Croydon University Hospital (CUH) are oversubscribed which results in long waiting times for appointments and increased workload on clinicians. The aim of this audit is to identify the scope of osteoporosis workload, the source of referrals, to improve distribution of the osteoporosis workload in CUH and redesign the pathway for osteoporosis referrals. A secondary aim is to identify patients that could be managed without referral enabling more consultation slots within the rheumatology department for patients that present with early inflammatory arthritis.

Methods

Data was collected retrospectively from all the patients that had been referred to the rheumatology department, either internally or externally and offered a new osteoporosis appointment from June to mid-September 2022 (104 patients in total). A data collection sheet was created from electronic patient records. The data included the patients’ hospital number, age, sex, height, weight, BMI, race, source of referral, reason for referral, fractures sustained, admissions for fracture, prior treatment with IV/ oral bisphosphonates, which oral bisphosphonate treatment and reasons for stopping, co-prescription of calcium/ vitamin D and the follow up plan.

Results

Among patients who were surveyed, 33 were internal referrals. Referring departments were as follows: 18 from fracture liaison service (FLS), 7 from care of the elderly (COTE), 3 from orthopaedics, 1 from rheumatology, 1 from nephrology, 1 from endocrinology, 1 from haematology and 1 from respiratory. In the GP cohort (71 patients), many were intolerant to oral bisphosphonates due to gastrointestinal upset. Reasons for referral were as follows: 36 for intolerance to oral medication, 14 for declining BMD, 11 for restarting medication after drug holding, 9 for complexity of cases (including young age/ male/ anorexia/ osteogenesis imperfecta), 8 unspecified, 7 had sustained a fracture on treatment, 6 received breast cancer treatment, 6 had renal impairment, 6 for a second opinion and 1 for considering a drug holiday.

Conclusion

This audit highlights the issues associated with osteoporosis workload and suggests improvements for managing the referrals both internally and externally. GP education is important for managing patients not tolerating oral bisphosphonates before accepting referrals. We have started recommending GP to try alternative oral bisphosphonates or effervescent alendronic acid prior to referral. Some internal workload can be managed by the referring team with advice being provided by the rheumatology team in order to reallocate rheumatology appointments for other conditions. The rheumatology department at Croydon University Hospital met with stakeholders from COTE and FLS and discussed the audit results. The COTE team agreed to initiate and continue IV zoledronate to reduce the osteoporosis burden on the rheumatology department.

Disclosure

S. Taheri: None. R. Suresh: None. J. Burton: None. S. Adil: None. T. Ahmed: None. N. Horwood: None. R. Sathananthan: None.