Are specialist outreach clinics for orthodontic consultation effective? A randomised controlled trial

Abstract

Objective: To develop outreach clinics for orthodontic consultation and evaluate their costs and effectiveness.

Design: Single centre randomised controlled trial with random allocation of referred patients to outreach or main base consultation appointments.

Setting: One hospital orthodontic department and three community health centre clinics in Greater Manchester. Subjects 324 patients who were referred for orthodontic treatment.

Main outcome measures: The outcome of consultation, the cost and duration of the visit and the consumer's perceptions of the visit.

Results: There were no differences in outcome of the consultation. While consumer travel costs and the duration of appointments were significantly higher for the main base clinics, these differences were not great. However, consumers preferred to attend an appointment in an outreach clinic.

Conclusions: There do not appear to be marked advantages or disadvantages in providing consultation appointments for orthodontics in outreach clinics