A 'hot clinic' for cold limbs: the benefit of urgent clinics for patients with critical limb ischaemia.

The national reconfiguration of vascular surgery means that arterial centres serve larger populations with increased demand on resources. Emergency general surgery ambulatory clinics facilitate timely review and intervention, avoiding admission; a critical limb ischaemia (CLI) 'hot clinic' (HC) was implemented to achieve similar for vascular patients. The aim of the study was to determine HC efficacy. This was a prospective cohort study comparing HC patients with emergency admission (EA) patients between 1 May and 1 December 2017. Age, sex, comorbidities, CLI severity and smoking status were noted. HC patients were provided with satisfaction surveys. Primary outcome measures were freedom from reintervention and major amputation. Secondary outcome measures included time to procedure, length of stay, returns to theatre and 30-day readmission. A total of 147 patients (72 HC, 75 EA) were enrolled in the study. No statistical difference was found in age, sex, smoking status, severity of CLI or prevalence of comorbidities between the groups except that diabetes was more prevalent in EA patients ( A vascular HC facilitates urgent review and revascularisation. It provides comparable in-hospital outcomes and better long-term outcomes, with greater efficiency than hospital admission, demonstrating its value in treating CLI.