Managing epilepsy in austerity - Evaluating the utility and value of the epilepsy specialist nurse in an open access model of service delivery. Aneurin Bevan Epilepsy Specialist Team (A.B.E.S.T.).

PURPOSE: Healthcare organisations in the UK primarily measure clinical activity from data collected on numbers of attendances at outpatient clinics, inpatient admissions and procedures performed etc. Telephone contacts with patients are not typically measured as clinical activity. This service evaluation examines the utility and value of the Epilepsy Specialist Nurse (ESN) within an innovative 'Open Access Model', giving a breakdown of clinical workload and outcomes. METHODS: A retrospective service evaluation analysing all patient encounters made by the ESN and their outcomes, over a 3-month period from the 01/02/2017 to 30/04/2017. RESULTS: During the 3-month data collection period there were 620 patient encounters with 251 different patients. Nurse-led clinic appointments and telephone calls were the two most common types of encounter. Eighteen percent of ESN time was spent on the phone directly addressing patient concerns (368 encounters). Of these calls, 72% led to prevention of a clinic appointment (268 appointments avoided) while only 22% needed a subsequent clinic appointment. The most common outcome of telephone encounters was 'medication management' (25%). CONCLUSIONS: The evaluation demonstrates that timely intervention by telephone reduces the need for outpatient appointments and leads to treatment changes being implemented quickly to address individual need.