BSR audit on early RA: Most patients wait too long for specialist care

The British Society for Rheumatology released results from its audit of patients with early rheumatoid arthritis which showed about two-thirds of patients wait to see a specialist and one in six patients are referred to a rheumatologist by a general practitioner within 3 days.

According to a British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) press release, the audit showed 25% of patients waited more than 3 months for referral to a specialist and 38% of patients were seen in a rheumatology setting within 3 weeks of referral. Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs were prescribed within 6 weeks for more than half of patients after they sought treatment.

“Inflammatory arthritis, and in particular rheumatoid arthritis, is a common cause of disability in adults and can reduce life expectancy,” Jo Ledingham, MD, clinical audit director, said in the release. “Early initiation and rapid escalation of disease-modifying treatments can prevent disability and reduce long-term complications, but rapid access to specialist services is needed to facilitate this as part of a care package in partnership with the patient.”

The full report from the audit includes recommendations for both physicians and patients. The recommendations include urging rheumatologists to assess methods of increasing clinical capacity and building suitable care packages in collaboration with patients.

“This complex audit — collecting information from individual patients at multiple time points and within busy clinic settings — has been a huge challenge for rheumatology departments,” Ledingham added. “We would like to acknowledge the contribution of clinicians in recruiting patients and providing the high quality data that have underpinned the analysis. The audit results provide crucial information on service provision and can facilitate negotiations with employers and commissioners to improve services for patients.”

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