Fracture clinic (Virtual)

Colchester Hospital Virtual Fracture clinic

When you attend Colchester Hospital Emergency Department or Minor Injuries Unit, we will refer you to the Colchester Virtual Fracture Clinic for the next stage of your treatment.

The VFC is held every day. A consultant orthopaedic surgeon leads the VFC. They are helped by specialist plaster technicians and administrative staff.  The VFC team will review your case history and the imaging (x-rays) of your injury.

The VFC aims to review your case within 24 to 36 hours of referral.

A Patient’s Guide to the Virtual Fracture Clinic (The video opens in a new window which takes you to the YouTube website where accessibility controls may not be supported)

When will the VFC contact me?

We will usually contact you within 48 to 72 hours after your referral to VFC.

If your injury happens between Friday to Sunday, we will contact you by the following Tuesday.

If the VFC review decides that you need more urgent treatment or assessment, we will contact you sooner.

It is critical that we have up-to-date contact details for you, especially your telephone number(s). You should make sure you are available to take a call from the VFC.

If we cannot contact you, we will leave a short message explaining how to get in touch with us. If you have not received a phone call or message, within the appropriate time frame, then contact the VFC.

Your fracture treatment plan

The Orthopaedic and Trauma Consultants and their team decide your treatment plan.

Possible outcomes following review by the VFC

Urgent review

This may be because:

• we need to assess you further
• we need imaging (x-ray) or additional imaging
• we urgently need to change your treatment or assess you for surgery.

Fracture clinic follow-up

Your case will be triaged according to clinical need and availability of clinics. We will contact you to offer an appointment in a face-to-face clinic.

Physiotherapy

Your case does not require fracture clinic management. We will make a direct referral to physiotherapy for rehabilitation. The physiotherapy department will contact you.

Discharge

We will phone you with advice about:

• treatment
• rehabilitation
• expected outcomes
• how to seek help if there are problems.

Request for more information

We need more information. We will contact you or ask the Emergency Department (A&E) or the Minor Injuries Unit to do this.

Inappropriate referral

The referral to the VFC was not appropriate (for example a long-term problem or problem not managed by the usual fracture service). We will send the referral back to the Emergency Department or MIU who will arrange further management/assessment as required.