Discussion
Patient feedback on the nurse-led GONI clinic was positive, with the highest levels of satisfaction being reported for the nurses’ ability, professionalism and compassion. Importantly, returning patients perceived the clinic to run more efficiently and take less time compared with the traditional consultant-led model. While quantative data showed the majority of patients were not offered a choice in clinic dates, qualitative data suggested this did not detract from patient satisfaction.
The inclusion of a follow-up period would have been useful to see whether attendees experienced long-term improved satisfaction compared with the consultant-led clinic. Monitoring of subsequent patient attendance would also enable us to comment on how nurse-led GONI affects treatment adherence.
The study could have been broadened to include independent observations of technique and the recording of patient side-effects to compare clinical competence and patient outcomes of the nurse-led clinic with those of the consultant-led one.