Primary Contact Hand Therapy - The helping hand in leading an innovative model of care

Primary Contact Hand Therapy (PCHT) is an innovative role substitution model of care led by Allied Health clinicians at Gold Coast Health. It was established in December 2018 in response to the Ministerial Taskforce to expand the scope of practice for Allied Health professionals.

Outcomes Since PCHT implementation, there has been:

• 43% of reduction in total waitlist
• 52% reduction in long waits for hand and upper limb conditions
• PCHT is recognised as a key driver for this reduction, even during COVID-19 when waitlists were generally trending
• 32% of patients have been discharged to their GP without need for Orthopaedic input
• 54 more new Orthopaedic occasions of service per month have been created with implementation of the Post-Operative and Fracture Clinic streams of PCHT
• 100% of patients have reported being satisfied or very satisfied with seeing a PCHT clinician rather than a doctor