CMATS for Healthcare Professionals
Who is the service for and how to access it?
Patients can now access CMATS for their shoulder, knee, spine and hip conditions. Pathways have been developed to show when to refer to this service in each circumstance and what conservative management should have been sought initially.
Anyone referring into the service should ensure that the referral clearly demonstrates that the relevant pathway has been followed and the conservative treatment indicated has been tried and failed in order to have a referral accepted. The pathways are evidence-based, make prudent use of imaging, direct to useful sources of patient information and have been agreed by all stakeholders.
CMATS will virtually triage all referrals to ensure they are accepted or redirected to the most appropriate service. Those referrals which clearly require consultant orthopaedic surgical opinion will be redirected at this virtual triage as soon as they are read.
A key element of CMATS has been to consider lifestyle management including weight management and smoking cessation. The associated support document can be found below:
To refer a patient into CMATS for a shoulder, knee, hip or spine condition please choose CMATS – Clinical MSK Assessment and Treatment Service on the Welsh Clinical Communications Gateway (WCCG).
Following an appointment with CMATS, a letter summarising the outcomes will be sent back to the patient’s GP.