Impact of Implementation of Surgical Pathway for Abdominal Pain on Initial Assessment Time, Investigations and Outcomes

Historically, in our District General Hospitals, paediatric patients with abdominal pain were seen acutely by surgical teams. Patients referred to surgeons with abdominal pain faced a long wait with delays affecting Paediatric Assessment Unit flow and ward capacity. An abdominal pain pathway was implemented in July 2019. 88% of patients with abdominal pain had a medical diagnosis at discharge and there was an appropriate reduction in laboratory investigations by both the surgical team (from 90% to 58%) and general paediatric teams (from 43% to 17%).