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General Orthopaedics

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Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 103-B, Issue SUPP_6 | Pages 27 - 27
1 May 2021
Goh K Tarrant P Green C Swaine S Santos E Bond D Groom G Lahoti O Phillips S
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Introduction

Patients undergoing complex limb reconstruction are often under immense physical, psychological and financial stress. We already provide psychological support within our unit. We have identified that patients struggle to obtain proper advice on the financial support to which they are entitled. In September 2019, rebuildcharity.org commissioned a Citizens Advice Clinic. One advisor from the local Citizens Advice staffs the clinic. Currently we have no set criteria for referral and patients can be referred by any member of the limb reconstruction team. Although severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic and the disruption of all routine work we were able to run clinics from September 2019 to March 2020 and September 2020 to January 2021. We present our initial results.

Materials and Methods

In total 19 patients (68% male) have been seen. There have been 58 clinic appointments which have been a combination of face to face and virtual. The majority (80%) of issues dealt with relate to benefits – including claiming tax credits, universal credits and Personal Independence Payments. Other issues include housing problems, employment and claiming for travel and transport.