Introduction Determining which patients need to be seen on the day they attend. Sexual Health Services are challenging given the increasing demand for services and limited capacity. A new questionnaire based triage system was implemented in a busy, urban, Level 3 Sexual Health Service. We have reviewed the outcomes of implementing this triage process to assess how many triaged patients were seen the same day and the symptoms they reported, how many received future appointments and of those, how many returned. We also assessed the safety of a questionnaire based process for triage.

Methods Patients triaged in November 2016 were identified and their notes reviewed.

Results Of 255 recorded triages, 119 notes have been reviewed to date. Of these, 92 (77%) were seen the same day but 2 left before being seen. 27(23%) received a follow-up appointment, and 89% of these attended.

Of the 92 given a same day appointment, 36 (39%) reported pain/dysuria, 23 (25%) were contacts of an STI, 2 required PEP, 6 had discharge, 3 recurrent HSV, 2 patients had been diagnosed with Chlamydia elsewhere, 2 had non-specific symptoms, 1 requested a TOP and 1 reported sexual assault. 12 had lumps or itching, 4 were asymptomatic.

Discussion This review demonstrated that questionnaire based triage is effective and as it is quicker than face to face triage, capacity can be increased. 77% of patients were offered same day review which highlights the importance of flexibility within services to ensure patients can be seen within 48hrs when appropriate.